HÀ NỘI — Environment workers of Hà Nội City completed the collection of dead fish in Hoàng Cầu Lake early this morning on instructions from Nguyễn Đức Chung, chairman of the People’s Committee.

The quantity of the fish, which was completely spoilt, taken out from the lake was estimated at some six tonnes.

The entire lake area and the embankment were cleaned.

According to the city’s Construction Department, from 7.30pm yesterday until early this morning, the department’s unit and related companies mobilised all their forces and equipment to remove the dead fish, in order to save the fish in the lake that were still alive.

The Hà Nội Drainage Company also used a special substance to clean the lake water at night and will use technology to clean the water in the coming days.

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment will take samples of the dead fish for testing to determine the reasons for the fish deaths.

The units were requested to take water samples from many different places around the lake for testing to ensure accurate results.

Earlier, yesterday morning, local residents said they found some dead fish floating on the water.

By late afternoon, many dead fish were spotted.

After a direct inspection, the city chairman held an urgent meeting with the concerned units to quickly deal with the dead fish to ensure the lake was cleaned and to avoid pollution for local residents living around the lake.

According to some local residents, the fish died due to the hot weather following a heavy rainfall on Tuesday afternoon, causing an ecological imbalance in the lake.

Last year also, dead fish were spotted in the lake, due to the hot weather in the day and the unexpected rain in the afternoon.

The quantity of dead fish was, however, less than this year. — VNS