Dead pigs pulled from rivers in and near Shanghai top 13,000
Shanghai authorities say tap water quality remains normal while they step up search for more carcasses at upper reaches of Huangpu River
The number of pig carcasses recovered from rivers in and near Shanghai since early last week has surpassed 13,000.
About 9,500 have been retrieved from the Huangpu River, a source of more than a fifth of the city's drinking water, as workers pulled nearly 500 more pig carcasses from the waterway yesterday. Upstream, the government of Jiaxing said it had recovered around 3,600 from streams in its jurisdiction.
About 80 per cent of the pigs recovered yesterday were young hogs, the Shanghai government said in a statement.
Government spokesman Xu Wei said the authorities were intensifying searches along the upper reaches of the Huangpu and were ready to move to waters bordering Jiaxing to prevent more pig carcasses from floating beyond the area.
Starting from yesterday, all carcasses pulled from the river were taken to the city's animal-incineration centre, the statement said. The government previously said that some of the carcasses were buried near where they were recovered and others were incinerated.
The quality of the river water and tap water in Shanghai remained normal, the government reiterated yesterday.
