Over a million fish dead in Thai River

In news that just came out of Bangkok...over a million farmed fish have died due to a sudden drop in oxygen levels in the waters of one of Thailand's key rivers, the Chao Phraya river. Entire sections of the river and neighboring areas were declared disaster zones after the fish started dying on Sunday night. Officials don't know what exactly caused the oxygen levels to drop to levels between zero and 0.5%, when fish need at least 3% to survive. The fisheries department of Thailand has suspected that either a sugar boat that capsized earlier this month released harmful toxins and chemicals into the river or that harmful pollutants from industries upstream are to blame for this mass death of tubtim fish, a type of tilapia.

Local villagers suspect that factories that produce a food additive called monosodium glutamate, released untreated water into the river which flows directly to the capital, Bangkok. The agriculture ministry has pledged to compensate the fisheries for their losses which equate to $1.3 million dollars.

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