The Slatest

Chinese River Runs Red at Dawn With … Food Coloring, Maybe

A different river, in Luoyang, China, in 2011.

Photo by China Daily/Reuters

ABC has the story of a river in eastern China that mysteriously ran RED … at DAWN … with what was probably some sort of dye or food coloring. Per the Wenzhou Environmental Protection Bureau:

“We suspect that somebody dumped artificial coloring in the water because he thought the typhoon yesterday would cause heavy rain, and nobody would notice [the color],” Jianfeng Xiao, Chief of the bureau told China News

Xiao said there is a paper manufacturer, a food coloring company and clothing-maker a long the river. The bureau is still investigating the incident.

Click through for ABC’s picture; the one above is from a similar incident a few years ago. (Water pollution is a persistent problem in China.)