Public asked how to recover dumped munitions in Swiss lakes

For decades, thousands of tonnes of old ammunition have lain dormant at the bottom of Swiss Alpine lakes. The government has now launched a competition for ideas on how to safely remove it. 

From 1918 to 1964, the army dumped over 12,000 tonnes of unused materiel into the lakes of Thun, Lucerne and Brienz in particular. It lies at depths of up to 220 metres. The Federal Office for Armaments (armasuisse) has now asked the public what to do about it. The best three ideas will share a prize pot of CHF50,000 ($57,780).