Thousands of animals have died in a fire at a large pig-fattening facility in the Altmark region of Saxony-Anhalt in north central Germany.
The fire brigade initially said that around 20,000 pigs had died in the fire. A company spokesman said later on Saturday that 1,750 sows and an unknown number of piglets had been killed.
According to a spokeswoman for the Altmark region's Salzwedel district, there are usually around eight piglets per sow. According to the information, 5,200 sows and 35,000 piglets were rescued.
A total of more than 210 firefighters were deployed, the local district administration said.
The firefighting work would probably continue over the weekend, said Inga Otte-Sonnenschein, head of the office for legal and district affairs. Around a third of the pig-fattening facility had been destroyed by the fire, she said.