Mass fish deaths in German-Polish river, chemical waste likely dumped in river

The Oder river, which runs through Germany and Poland, has seen thousands of fish wash up dead, sparking warnings of an environmental disaster as residents are told to stay away from the river. 

The fish can be seen floating by the German banks and are believed to have washed upstream from Poland – where it was first reported of mass fish deaths on July 28. 

German officials have accused Polish authorities of failing to inform them about the deaths. Whilst the Polish government has come under heavy criticism for failing to take swift action. 

The Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki said everyone thought that it was a local problem and admitted that the “scale of the disaster is very large, sufficiently large to say that the Oder will need years to recover its natural state.” 

“Probably enormous quantities of chemical waste was dumped into the river in full knowledge of the risk and consequences,” added the Polish leader, as German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke urged a comprehensive probe into what she called a brewing “environmental