1,000 Tons of Dead Fish Washed up on Kuwaiti Coast

A thousand tonnes of dead fish have been washed up on the Kuwaiti coast for reasons as yet unknown, according to a committee set up to examine the phenomenon.

Environment officials have blamed a heat wave, which has pushed up temperatures above 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) in the shade, for the death of the fish in the past two weeks.

Interim head of the emirate's living resources department, Rasheed Al-Rushud, said that foreign experts may be brought in to help the Kuwaiti authorities in their inquiry.

He was quoted by the official KUNA news agency as saying that oil minister Adil Al-Subih had assured the health ministry that the country's oil firms were not the source of the problem through any chemical discharge in the water.

Mona Faraj of the living resources department, told the press that "temperature highs in Gulf waters of 36 C (97 F) were the main cause of death of the fish between August 10-14".






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