Photos show the shocking scale of 'thousands' of fish deaths in 'polluted' lake in 'days'

Telford Angling Association holds the fishing rights at Holmer Lake which is normally a happy hunting ground for the club and its members.

But not this week after fish have been killed after appearing to be gasping for air in the polluted waters. Special oxygenation kits have been pumping life-giving air into the water in a bid to save some of the stock.

Jon Portman, chairman of the Telford Angling Association says: "It is into the thousands and it has been over the last three days."

The waters have normally been a good place for common carp, mirror carp, roach, bream, perch and even pike. It has a maximum depth of between four and eight feet.

A video taken by the association at the site in Stirchley shows how a pike was seemingly gasping for air very close to a human.

One shocking image shows rows and rows of dead fish that have been pulled out of the murky water and laid lifeless on the banks.

Mr Portman is upset and furious, saying that the association wants to make sure that there is no kind of 'cover up' of what happened at what is a balancing lake.

He added: "We first saw it two days ago. Anglers came down to see thousands of fish gasping for air.

"There have been multiple casualties.

"We have our own pump and have people here to keep an eye on it."

The authorities say that a "third party" has polluted the water. It has not been officially named.

Holmer Lake was closed to the public on Friday after dead fish were spotted floating on the water on Thursday morning by anglers.

A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said they were pumping in oxygen to the water to help the fish.

He added: “Our officers have deployed these aeration pumps in the Holmer Lake in Telford to increase oxygen levels in the water following a report of fish in distress.”

Severn Trent Water, who own Holmer Lake, said the incident was caused by a "third party" who polluted the water.

A spokesperson said: “We're currently on site at Holmer Lake following reports of a pollution.

"During our investigations we confirmed it's not a result of the Severn Trent network, but we believe the source of the pollution is coming from a third party which we are now working with.

"We have been liaising with partners including the Environment Agency which has been supporting throughout the incident.”

Holmer Lake is expected to be closed for the “foreseeable future”.