The Oder River, hundreds of kilometers long, flows through Germany and Poland. The dead fish was first found in the Polish province of Lower Silesia, but now also in the far north near Lubowski County.

Countries suspect the water has been poisoned. The German state of Brandenburg’s environment ministry said mercury was found in the river. Search results from Poland are still expected.

A fisheries researcher told German radio Deutsche Welle that dredging work in a river in Poland may have released mercury.

Many people have recorded the damage caused to the thousands of dead fish left by the poisoning.

slow down

According to the Germans, the poison comes from Poland and therefore they could not act in time. The Brandenburg Environment Agency reported that Poland had not been warned through official warning systems.

“The response of the relevant agencies should have come sooner,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said. It was announced yesterday that he has sacked the head of Polish water and chief environmental protection inspector.

Recovery takes years

Polish Prime Minister says it could take years for the river to recover BBC reports. He noted that “huge amounts of chemical waste” had been dumped into the river without taking into account the risks to animals.

The Oder is usually thought of as a clean river that serves as a home for more than forty species of fish.

The river as a dump

Not only do fish species have problems because of the poisoned water, says Polish journalist Katarzyna Koczar in Search site OKO.com. The fishermen also found dead beavers and the birds left.” Authorities warn people not to touch the water.

There are also river problems in Bosnia. Major rivers are increasingly used as dumping sites. Scrap flows into low-lying Bosnia by sea, and waste pit in the Balkans: