HAPPY VALLEY-GOOSE BAY, Newfoundland, July 25 (UPI) -- It hasn't been confirmed yet, but searchers believe they've found a World War II German submarine at the bottom of a Canadian river, 60 miles from the ocean.
What appears to be a German U-boat was first spotted at the bottom of the Churchill River in Labrador two years ago by searchers using sonar to locate three men who had gone over Muskrat Falls, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Wednesday.
"We were looking for something completely different, not a submarine, not a U-boat -- I mean, no one would ever believe that was possible," Brian Corbin told the CBC. "It was a great feeling when we found it."
Corbin said the object appears to be a 150-foot-long vessel.
The German government says it would be "sensational and unusual" for one of its submarines to have ended up so far inland, though it concedes it's possible, the CBC reported.
"We do know that German U-boats did operate in that region," Georg Juergens, deputy head of mission for the German Embassy in Ottawa, told the CBC. "We must brace ourselves for surprises."
Juergens said the whereabouts of more than a dozen WWII U-boats may still be unknown. He said it would be "against our tradition and our naval customs" to raise the wreckage if it does prove to be a German sub.
"This site then would be declared a war grave at sea," he said.
Corbin said he wants to search the river. Juergens said the Newfoundland and Labrador government is involved in efforts to authenticate the possible wreck.