River Turns Blood Red, But Official At Nearby Factory Says It Looks Normal
A photo posted by Басалыга Екатерина (@basalyga_katerina_nl) on Sep 6, 2016 at 1:59am PDT
A river in Russia has turned the color of blood, something many locals blame on a leak at a nearby nickel plant.
A number of images shared across social media showed the waters of the Daldykan River near the Siberian city of Norilsk turning an alarming shade of crimson.
🇷🇺#Sibérie: La rivière Daldykan qui devient rouge sang, On ne sait pas ce que c'est, des analyses sont en cours.pic.twitter.com/kpOZP4KaM2
— ¶ ¬ T ¬ A (@PorteTonArme)September 7, 2016
Norilsk Nickel, which runs the nearby Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant denied that there was a leak, or even any change in the river.
“As far as we know, the color of the river is today no different from normal,” a company source told The Siberian Times.
However, Norilsk Nickel said it would monitor the situation.
Norilsk Nickel uses pipes to pump chemical solutions and metal concentrates, Denis Koshevoi, a PhD candidate at the Vernadsky Institute for Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, told The Guardian.
“Periodically there are accidents when these pipes breakand the solutions spill and get into the Daldykan ― that’s why it changes color,” Koshevoi was quoted as saying.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment of the Russian Federation saidit was investigating the incident.