"Massive fish kill confirmed"

NATIONAL environment authorities have confirmed the death of more than 450,000 kilograms of fish in two eastern China's cities in August was a result of pollution after a neighboring province opened a sluice to release sewage and industrial waste water.

So far no scheme on how to compensate the fishermen suffering the loss has been finalized, an Anhui Province-based newspaper reported yesterday.

On August 29, Yongcheng County in central China's Henan Province, which is in the upriver area of Anhui's Huaibei and Suzhou cities, opened its Zhangqiao sluice to release water after industrial waste and sewage had been stored for a long time.

The polluted water flooded the downriver Huaibei's Tuohe River and Suzhou's Xinbian River, killing the large number of fish in the two rivers, the report said.

Local fishermen report more than 450,000 kilograms of fish died in the pollution.

Preliminary estimates showed the pollution resulted in financial losses of more than three million yuan (US$375,000).