‘We have never seen anything like this’: Thousands of birds found dead along shore of India’s biggest saltwater lake

Possible causes range from high salinity of water to hailstorm

Officials check a container packed with the dead birds at Sambhar Lake (Prabhakar Sharma/Hindustan Times/Getty)

Thousands of dead birds have been found along the shore of India’s biggest saltwater lake.

The carcasses of around 2,400 birds of several different species were discovered in the area around Sambhar Salt Lake in Rajasthan state, forest officials told CNN.

However, locals claimed the death toll could be as high as 5,000.

Indian authorities are investigating how the birds died, with possible causes ranging from high water salinity to a hailstorm.

Images showed large numbers of dead birds, including the northern shoveler, blackwinged stilt and common coot, scattered around the area by the lake. The carcasses are being buried in deep pits near the water.

“We are still counting the dead birds,” senior forest official Sanjay Kaushik told the BBC.

“They are strewn over the entire area around the lake. Some 20 to 25 birds who were still alive are being treated.”

Samples from the dead birds, which were discovered on Sunday, have been sent to a lab in Bhopal for analysis. Results are expected this weekend.

“At this moment we suspect that there was some level of toxicity and high level of salinity in the drinking water,” Ashok Sharma, joint director of the State Disease Diagnostic Centre, told CNN.

“We will have more details once the report comes from Bhopal.”

A forest ranger, Rajendra Jakhar, said a hailstorm that battered the area several days ago could be to blame.

“We are also looking at other possibilities like toxicity of the water, bacterial or viral infection,” he told the Press Trust of India news agency.

A bird watcher who first came across the distressing scene told the agency: “We have never seen anything like that.”