The iconic West Lake in Hanoi’s Tay Ho District is again filled with the stench of dead fish which were spotted floating in the lake on Wednesday afternoon, causing troubles to the surrounding areas.

The carcasses were also found washed ashore on the lake, bounded by such streets as Trich Sai, Nguyen Dinh Thi, and Lac Long Quan.

As the dead fish are rotting, this gave off a stinky smell in the area.

The water where the dead fish were found floating turned dark green and was covered with scum.

Nguyen Minh Tam, who often runs around the lake every afternoon to work out, said the fish kills in the lake took place around four days ago.

Only a few dead fish were seen surfacing in the lake in the first days, but the number of carcasses rose quickly on Wednesday. The rotting dead fish exuded an extremely foul smell, Tam said.

In response to the fish kills, the Tay Ho administration said it would dispatch a team to inspect the incident as well as join hands with relevant agencies to determine the cause and adopt appropriate measures, a local official said.

A dozen metric tons of dead fish were found floating in the lake in October and November last year, prompting the municipal administration to take action to find the cause and seek solutions.

The Department of Construction asked the Hanoi Center for Technical Infrastructure Management and Hanoi Sewerage and Drainage Company to monitor, inspect, clean up the affected area, and deal with the carcasses.

Fish kills often occur when seasons change between September and October, according to authorities.

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment attributed the floating dead fish to the dwindling amount of oxygen, while the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development blamed a massive volume of fish in the lake and poor water quality for the fish death.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!