Hundreds of fish have been found dead in Cherna River in Ustovo, a neighbourhood of the town of Smolyan.

The water supply and sanitation company has not ascertained any breach in the collector sewer, and there are no irregular discharges from the collector pipe into the river. There is no reason for this to take place as part of the water cycle, they say.

The dead fish were reported yesterday in a call to emergency number 112. The river section in question is 1.5 kms. long, in the region of Ustovo residential area. A probe for establishing the perpetrator has been launched by the Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water, the River Basin directorate, the Executive Agency for Fisheries and Aquaculture, the police and Smolyan municipality.

The Executive Agency for Fisheries and Aquaculture says that almost all fish – brown trout and Barbus petenyi – have died, and that a discharge of black water from the pipe of Ustovo hydroelectric power plant has been ascertained. However, for the time being experts from the Smolyan water supply and sewerage company are not confirming this and are inspecting the area.