Hundreds Of Dead Pigs Found In Shanghai River

More than 900 dead pigs are found in Shanghai's Huangpu River. But, according to reports on state media, authorities say that the water has not been contaminated.

SHANGHAI, CHINA (MARCH 10, 2013) (CCTV) -  More than 900 dead pigs were recovered from Shanghai's Huangpu River on Sunday (March 10), state media reported.

According to official state news agency Xinhua, local authorities began receiving reports from Shanghai's Songjiang district of the pigs floating upstream in the Huangpu River, an important source of drinking water for local residents, on Saturday (March 9) afternoon.Although state media did not report there being previous occurrences of pigs washing into the Huangpu river, one local resident, speaking to official state television CCTV, said that this was a common sight but this year the number of bodies has peaked.

"The dead pigs can be seen every day and every year, and the number is much greater than those in previous years," said the unnamed man during an interview with CCTV.

Footage aired by CCTV showed personnel from the local environmental protection bureau retrieving the remaining dead pigs from the Huangpu River on Sunday to avoid contamination.

"We have been picking up dead pigs from morning to night. We cannot do it at night due to safety concerns we cannot work (all) night, so we usually start (work) at around 06:30 AM and continue until dark," Xu Rong, director of the Songjiang Environmental Department, told CCTV Sunday.

Quoting the local public water supplies bureau, Xinhua reported that test results conducted by the public water supplies bureau indicated that, so far, the quality of water from the Huangpu River has not been affected.

CCTV said that the source of the dead pigs is now undergoing investigation by theShanghai Agricultural Bureau.