Hundreds of dead fish have mysteriously washed ashore along the river bank in Fort Worth.
The dead fish were discovered at Trinity River in north Fort Worth in the same place where multiple bottles of hand sanitizer were also washed ashore. A warehouse that housed hand sanitizer burned down two weeks ago, just a couple miles from the location where the dead fish were found, as reported by The Dallas Express.
City officials said that bottles of hand sanitizer washed into the river through the storm drains as a result of local fire departments’ battle to extinguish the blaze at the warehouse.
More than 20 fire trucks and over 80 firefighters responded to the fire on Cullen Street, where officials said the alcohol-based hand sanitizer may have played a role in spreading the flames.
Christopher Bain told WFAA that he usually catches fish in that river, but not lately.
“It looked like they had a big Mardi Gras party in the water, and everybody trashed it,” Bain suggested. “I can’t even exaggerate enough how bad it was.”
Passersby told Fox 4 that people who often walk the area have been noticing the unpleasant sight of dead fish on the shore.
“We noticed starting Monday,” Thomas Sullivan explained. “We normally walk in a group, though today I’m by myself. It started Monday. Sometime we saw fish floating around them, and it got progressively worse, and yesterday it was really bad. Today, it seems better but the water is higher. It was moving faster.”
As of now, the cause of the dead fish is unknown.
Representatives from the Trinity River Authority and Tarrant Regional Water District told Fox 4 that they were not aware of any sanitizer spill which could have killed those fish.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has tested the water and is waiting for lab results. The commission plans to undertake another on-site investigation into the water quality and oxygen levels present in the Trinity River.
