Sydney, Jan 29 (IANS): Hundreds of thousands of fish were found dead in the Darling River in Australia in the third environmental disaster of its kind in two months, official sources said on Tuesday.

About a million fish have died near Menindee due to the presence of oxygen-absorbing algae, conditions that have been aggravated by drought and abrupt temperature changes, Efe news reported.

New South Wales Regional Water Minister Niall Blair confirmed the new case after photographs of dead fish were published by residents on Monday.

The town located some 930 km from here is the centre of this ecological catastrophe that have affected the country's main river system, amidst a severe drought and intense heat.

Blair said the state government was clueless.

They have already installed aerator devices to inject air into the river to try keep the fish alive.

This mortality is beyond the control of the government and "if there was something else that could be done we would have done it," the minister told national broadcaster ABC.

Residents claim it is the poor management of water resources in this agricultural area along the Murray and Darling river basins that has been contributing to the catastrophe.