Horrible discovery: The fish were discovered yesterday floating in Hongcheng Lake in Haikou, southern China's Hainan province
Horrible discovery: The fish were discovered yesterday floating in Hongcheng Lake in Haikou, southern China's Hainan province
Residents of a Chinese city were shocked to see a vast number of dead fish appearing in a local lake yesterday.

Horrifying images show the animals covering a large part of Hongcheng Lake in Haikou, southern China's Hainan province.

Sanitation workers have been recovering the dead fish and have so far collected 30 tonnes, the People's Daily Online reports.

According to Haikou City Board of Marine and Fisheries, the large number of dead fish is due to a change in salinity.

Its suspected that the fish have floated in from another place.

40 sanitation workers have attended the scene to recover the deceased animals.


Disturbing images: Staff at the Marine and Fisheries Agency told reporters that pollution can be ruled out as a cause of death
Disturbing images: Staff at the Marine and Fisheries Agency told reporters that pollution can be ruled out as a cause of death

The fish are thought to be scaled sardines, herring like fish that can be found in the Pacific Ocean. Scaled Sardines can grow up to nine inches in length but are usually around half of that size.

Staff at the Marine and Fisheries Agency told local reporters that pollution can be ruled out as a cause of death.

They also said that they will investigate the matter further and take measures to prevent seawater from entering areas where freshwater fish reside.

Sad images from Hainan: Sanitation workers have been recovering the dead fish and have so far collected 30 tonnes
Sad images from Hainan: Sanitation workers have been recovering the dead fish and have so far collected 30 tonnes
This isn't the first case of tonnes of deceased fish being found in China.

In 2015, thousands of animals died overnight at a commercial fish farm in southern China's Guangdong province after the lake became polluted.

Over 1,000 tonnes of dead fish were found floating in the water near Huizhou City.

Workers rushed to clear the lake using plastic baskets and nets to scoop them out, creating a huge mountain of rotting fish on the shore.