A photo posted by Басалыга Екатерина (@basalyga_katerina_nl) on Sep 6, 2016 at 1:59am PDT

A river in Russia has turned the color of blood, something many locals blame on a leak at a nearby nickel plant.

A number of images shared across social media showed the waters of the Daldykan River near the Siberian city of Norilsk turning an alarming shade of crimson.

🇷🇺#Sibérie : La rivière Daldykan qui devient rouge sang, On ne sait pas ce que c'est, des analyses sont en cours. pic.twitter.com/kpOZP4KaM2 — ¶ ¬ T ¬ A (@PorteTonArme) September 7, 2016

Norilsk Nickel, which runs the nearby Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant denied that there was a leak, or even any change in the river.

“As far as we know, the color of the river is today no different from normal,” a company source told The Siberian Times.

However, Norilsk Nickel said it would monitor the situation.

Norilsk Nickel uses pipes to pump chemical solutions and metal concentrates, Denis Koshevoi, a PhD candidate at the Vernadsky Institute for Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, told The Guardian.

“Periodically there are accidents when these pipes break and the solutions spill and get into the Daldykan ― that’s why it changes color,” Koshevoi was quoted as saying.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment of the Russian Federation said it was investigating the incident.