It was reported Tuesday that the owner of a pig farm in Lu'an, Anhui province was mourning the fate of his 6,000 pigs, who were in neck-deep water for nearly 20 hours due to heavy flooding in the region.

Even as the rain continued, the farm's workers did not give up on rescuing the pigs. According to a report in Southern Metropolis Daily, the number of imperiled pigs was closer to 3,000 than the 6,000 originally reported.

Huang Yong, the president of Xishang Group, told a reporter that he and his employees arrived at the farm at 6 a.m. to work on rescue efforts. The farm was totally under water, and the rain was still falling. "The depth of the water has reached one meter. We can only save the pigs one by one," said Huang.

Zhou Jun, vice general manager of Xishang Group, said that most of pigs looked healthy, though some of them were still piglets. Over 1,000 pigs were mature enough to be butchered, and Zhou said they planned to use four vehicles to transport the mature pigs. The slaughtering was set to begin that evening.

The deputy director of the local Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Bureau, surnamed Guo, was the one who reported the updated statistic of 3,000 pigs rather than 6,000.

He added that they didn't give up on rescuing the pigs in the aftermath of the first round of flooding. However, they gave higher priority to the rescue of trapped personnel.