[DageDage]

Fishermen have been left struggling in Indonesia after thousands of fish died near the Citra Lake, leaving scientists and officials baffled by the cause of their dramatic deaths.

Hundreds of tons of dead fish were found floating in waters near Jakarta with torrential rains around the area being blamed for their deaths. The department of fishery have suggested that the heavy rainfall may have caused a sudden rise in the water temperature.

The change in conditions is thought to have been behind the decimation of the fish population in the local water, leaving fishermen and local volunteers forced to clean up the waters in order to ward off further deaths.

A lack of oxygen for the fish may have caused the massacre and experts are taking samples of the dead fish to determine their cause of death.

'In the morning, I found just a few dozen dead fish [floating on the water] but as hours went by, the number grew to hundreds and it created a foul stench,' Bambang, a 47-year-old fisherman at Muara Angke port told.

'It is not unusual that many fish die, like this. But this year, there has been an increase both in the frequency and the volume,' he said.