'River cyanide leak wipes out fish'

Fish stocks on a stretch of a river polluted with cyanide appear to have been wiped out, it has been reported.

The Environment Agency said a survey along a 700-metre section of the River Trent found almost no evidence of living fish, the BBC said.

Stocks several miles further downstream seemed to be relatively unaffected by the poisoning, the agency added.

Thousands of fish were killed after the contamination between Stoke-on-Trent and Yoxall last week and an investigation is under way into what happened.

Environment officers spent several days pumping oxygen into the river to reduce the levels of pollution in the water.

It was discovered after Severn Trent Water said the cyanide had been released into the sewers upstream from the company's Strongford sewage treatment works in Stoke.

A waste management company was subsequently banned from putting industrial waste into the sewage system.

Red Industries Ltd, of Stoke-on-Trent, has been served with a Suspension Notice - preventing it from discharging any industrial effluent to the water system until further notice.

Environment Agency officers were on site on the firm's Burslem premises after tests showed the presence of cyanide at the sewer discharge point used by the company, the Environment Agency said.