MORE than 50 birds may have died from potentially lethal bird flu at a south Essex quarantine centre, a Government investigation has revealed.

A National Emergency Epidemiology Group report commissioned by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) found 53 Taiwanese Mesia finches died at the quarantine facility in Fambridge Road, Ashingdon, run by Horndon-based Pegasus Birds.

It is not known how many of the dead birds died from the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain, which may have been caught from Chinese ducks.

Published Thursday, November 16, 2005