ScienceOn the morning of July 24, a river in eastern China suddenly turned a bloody shade of red, according to unverified reports by ABC News, China News, Shanghaist, and others.
"Local residents say the river was running normally at 4am, but it started to redden at around 6am, and in no time turned as crimson as blood," China Radio International reported.
Here are some incredible pictures that appear to show the crimson river.
Residents say Chinese river turned blood red within an hour Thursday: http://t.co/egHPkG9PZ1 - @yazhous pic.twitter.com/QHDwQOxuJL
- ABC News (@ABC) July 25, 2014
Picture: River turns 'blood' red overnight in Cangnan County, #Zhejiang. Cause unknown. #waterpollution pic.twitter.com/o92KbMe3Hs
- CCTVNEWS (@cctvnews) July 25, 2014
A river in China turned blood red overnight and no one has any idea why http://t.co/wfXpfIexYx pic.twitter.com/yl9eC5BLC2
- Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) July 25, 2014
River in China mysteriously turns blood-red overnight http://t.co/3yhKQbTCj0 pic.twitter.com/gW6sBjZRNv
- Asaad Hutchinson (@asaadhutchinson) July 25, 2014
While nobody is quite sure what caused the alarming change, "there is a paper manufacturer, a food coloring company and clothing-maker a long the river," according to ABC's report. When China's Jian River turned red in 2011, it was traced to a company that was illegally dumping red dye into the waterway. The Yangtze River also had a suddenly-red incident, back in 2012, which was thought to have been caused by silt in the river.
ABC News notes that the Wenzhou Environmental Protection Bureau is investigating.