Poland stated laboratory checks to research an enormous fish die-off within the Oder River confirmed excessive salt ranges however no mercury poisoning its waters.

Analyses of river samples taken in each Poland and Germany detected excessive ranges of salinity however no mercury, Anna Moskwa, Poland’s minister of local weather and atmosphere, stated on Saturday, in accordance with media experiences. Toxicology research are nonetheless ongoing in Poland, she stated.

Moskwa stated Poland’s state veterinary authority examined seven species of the useless fish and dominated out mercury as the reason for the die-off however was nonetheless ready for outcomes of different substances, the Related Press reported. She stated check outcomes from Germany had additionally not proven a excessive presence of mercury, the AP stated.

Hundreds of useless fish have been discovered alongside the Oder River working between Poland and Germany, with each nations warning of an ecological catastrophe.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki referred to as the fish deaths “exceptionally scandalous” earlier this week. “These chargeable for it will likely be severely punished,” he stated.

Late Friday Morawiecki fired the pinnacle of the nation’s nationwide water administration authority, Przemyslaw Daca, and the pinnacle of the final environmental inspectorate, Michal Mistrzak, saying that their establishments ought to have reacted sooner, Reuters reported.

Polish Water stated on Thursday that preliminary checks discovered poisonous substances within the river, and authorities on Friday issued a warning for individuals to not bathe within the Oder. “We’re almost certainly coping with a criminal offense the place a substance was launched into the water that induced fish and different organisms to die,” Deputy Local weather and Atmosphere Minister Jacek Ozdoba stated on Thursday.

German broadcaster RBB reported on Thursday that “excessive ranges of mercury” have been present in water samples from the Oder.

Morawiecki on Saturday vowed to do every little thing doable to restrict the environmental harm. Poland’s inside minister provided a reward to anybody who helps observe down these chargeable for polluting the river, in accordance with the AP.

The ministry of atmosphere of the German state of Brandenburg earlier this week accused Poland of retaining the issue beneath cowl. “It should be stated that the reporting chains between the Polish and German sides didn’t work on this case,” Brandenburg’s Atmosphere Minister Axel Vogel stated.