Anxious residents of marine life on the east coast of Russia die, surfers sick

Thousands of dead marine life were stranded on a beach in Kamchatka province for no known reason, on October 8. - Reuters

MOSCOW: Residents on the east coast of Russia are amazed when their beaches are filled with a variety of dead marine life, from coral, fish and even shellfish.

However, the country's authorities on Friday issued a statement that the death of large-scale marine life in the waters of Kamchatka province was due to the presence of toxic algae, and not a human-caused disaster.

However, environmental extremist group Greenpeace said it was too early to accept the reason, Reuters reported .

The group warned of an ecological catastrophe earlier this month after cases of surfers on the Kamchatka peninsula fell ill after carrying out their activities, while thousands of marine life were stranded along the coast.

The group of activists also found materials such as yellow foam at several sea surface locations.

Meanwhile, a conservation group from the World Nature Fund (WWF) said the destruction was believed to be due to materials having a high solubility rate.

On Friday, Russian Natural Resources Minister Dmitry Kobylkin said the environmental damage was caused by an algae.

"What caused this to happen? It is the level of the algae toxin in this season. But what is more important is the factor that affects the condition of the algae ... but I have no explanation at this time," said Kobylkin.

At the same time, Greenpeace activist Elena Sakirko said samples had been taken from the scene and it was too early to place the algae as the real cause.

"We know this algae phenomenon only occurs in very polluted waters," he said.