Some Denmark Pavilion employees have been spotted swimming in the pond that displays the famous Little Mermaid sculpture.

A man surnamed Shi was watching live footage of the sculpture at www.mermaidexchange.com, a site set up for the World Expo to show the Little Mermaid in real-time, when he spotted several people wearing bathing suits splashing about in the pond in front of the Denmark Pavilion.

Shi posted the screen shots online, which quickly drew a fair bit of attention. People were speculating about the identities of the swimmers.

Zhang Aidi, media officer of Denmark Pavilion, said the people were employees who had celebrated Denmark's National Pavilion Day on Tuesday night.

She said they didn't want the party to end so they continued it in the pond into the wee hours yesterday.

"When the Little Mermaid was in Denmark, it was placed right beside the water and people were free to play right beside it," Zhang told Shanghai Daily.

"But here the situation may be different as officials might worry about Denmark's national treasure being damaged," Zhang said.

She added that the pond was designed for swimming, but it won't open to the public due to obvious concerns about safety and damage.

Zhang said the pond is more than 3 meters deep in some places.

She also said the sculpture was not damaged and that it was being monitored around the clock by guards.

The real-time image of the Little Mermaid can also be seen at its original location in Copenhagen, Denmark, as an LED screen has been set up there.