Image: courtesy Grieg Seafood

Grieg Seafood plant accident kills farmed salmon due to chlorine contamination

Some 96,000 farmed salmon are believed to have died when a leak in a nearby tank dumped 15,000 liters of chlorine into a fjord in Norway's Arctic region.

Roger Pedersen, a spokesman for salmon farming company Grieg Seafood, said the leak was at one of their skinning facilities in Alta town and, at the time, the fish were in a holding cage nearby. This corresponds to about 430 tonnes.

"We are linking this to a chlorine leak", Pedersen told Norwegian broadcaster NRK, adding that the company was handling the fish "in a responsible way and investigating the reason for the leak."

Chlorine is used to disinfect the water after the fish are slaughtered.

Police in northern Norway tweeted that "significant amounts of salmon are dead" and that the leaked liquid had reached the Atlantic Ocean.

<--- Alta location in Norway

Police spokesman Stein Hugo Joergensen told the NRK that there was no danger of toxic chlorine gas on the ground. The cause of the leak is still under investigation.

Alta is located 175 kilometers (109 miles) northeast of Tromso, the largest city in Norway's Arctic region.

Grieg Seafood claims to be the leading salmon farming company in the world. It has salmon farms in Norway, Canada and on the Shetland Islands off Great Britain. Its headquarters are in Bergen, Norway.

Financial consequences have not been clarified. The fish is insured, according the company press release.

Source: Associated Press

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Address:	C.Sundtsgt 17/19 - P.O. Box 234
City:	Bergen
State/ZIP:	(NO-5002)
Country:	Norway
Phone:	+47 5557 6600
Fax:	+47 5557 6970
E-Mail:	[email protected]
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