The number of dead or dying flamingos on Larnaca's Salt Lake has increased to between 30 and 40 from around ten earlier this week, it emerged yesterday.

Fifteen more birds have been collected from the lake and taken to the Veterinary Department for testing but the results are still pending. The results of water samples taken are also pending.

The flamingo deaths were briefly discussed during the Parliament's Environmental Committee meeting yesterday but no new information emerged, said Martin Hellicar, Campaign Manager for Bird Life Cyprus.

Senior Game and Wildlife Officer for the Game Fund Nicolas Kassinis said lead poisoning continues to be ruled out as the birds' cause of death. The symptoms observed so far, such as wandering by themselves close to the shore and away from the flock, indicate they are sick in some way, but rule out lead poisoning.

The lake this year had the largest number of flamingos it has hosted in five years, due, Kassinis said, to the increased rains in October and November, which coincided with the birds' migration and wintering schedule. If Cyprus receives a comparable amount of rain next year and the breeding season is a success, the current deaths should not impact the number of flamingos that come to the lake next year, Kassinis said.

"Thirty to 40 birds dying out of 10,000 is not worrying [for next year's wintering numbers]," he said. "It is a small number compared to the number of birds wintering."