Pollution may have killed Chinese fish

CHONGQING, China, April 8 (UPI) -- Thousands of fish found dead in China's Chongqing Municipality may have been killed by chemical pollution, a government spokesman said Wednesday.

An unidentified spokesman for the Chongqing Municipal Environment Protection Bureau said at a news conference that the normal level of chemical oxygen demand in the Fujiang River had been exceeded, China's official state-run Xinhua news agency said.

The spokesman suggested the fish kill in Tongan County on Monday may be linked to pollution from nearby chemical plants.

"The massive fish death may have been caused by the yellowish industrial waste water discharged by chemical plants alongside the river," the official said.

The spokesman said following the troubling results of water quality tests, the local government initiated an investigation into the apparent pollution to determine its source, Xinhua said.