River in Russia Mysteriously Turned Blood Red

| By Patrick Reevell – ABC News |

Startled residents of a Russian city inside the Arctic Circle have been posting photos of a local river that has mysteriously turned blood red.

Photos published on Russian social media appear to the show the Daldykan River near the city of Norilsk flowing vivid burgundy. Russian authorities have yet to establish a reason for the river’s unusual appearance, but local people quickly linked it to a giant metals plant upstream. Russia’s Environment Ministry said it was investigating a plant leak as the likely cause.

Norilsk is known as one of the most polluted cities on earth, built around factories mostly belonging to the vast metals company Norilsk Nickel. Some Norilsk residents wrote in a local social media group that they believed the river’s biblical shade is linked to runoff from a nearby smelting plant.

Some suggested the color was being produced by wastewater mixed with mineral ore leaking into the river from the Hope Metals Plant.

The posts prompted Russia’s Environment Ministry to respond, issuing a statement announcing that it is investigating and that preliminary information suggests the cause was a leak from waste pipes belonging to Norilsk Nickel. A company subsidiary denied the pollution was caused by an accident involving the Hope factory, according to the statement. The ministry said it is still working to locate the pollution’s source.

Reached by ABC News, the factory declined to comment.

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