An outbreak of avian flu was reported in northeast China's Liaoning Province, where 8,940 chickens died of the deadly disease, the Ministry of Agriculture said on Friday.

The epidemic broke out on October 26 as chickens were found dead on family farms in a village in Badaohao town of Heishan county, the ministry said.

The deaths were reported to the Liaoning Provincial Animal Health Supervision Administration, which drew conclusion on November 1 that they were suspected of contracting avian flu.

Sample of the dead chickens were sent to China's National Avian Flu Reference Laboratory for confirmation, and the laboratory confirmed on November 3 the virus was the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.

The bird flu broke out in six towns in Heishan county which is located on the East Asia-Australia route where migratory birds used to move. More than 20 magpies and other wild birds were found dead there, the ministry said.

Experts believe this outbreak may have been caused by migratory birds, it said.

A total of 369,900 family birds within a radius of three km have been culled and 13.9 million have been vaccinated, the ministry said.

Agriculture Minister Du Qinglin, together with a team of experts, is on his way to the areas hit by the disease.

No human deaths have been reported in the Heishan outbreak.

(Xinhua News Agency November 4, 2005)