Blood coloured rain in Arctic? A biblical plague? The apocalypse? What’s going on?

The scene appeared shocking around the Nadezhdinsky nickel and copper processing plant.

After rainfall, cars and the ground all turned red.

The plant is near a river that has a habit of turning red in the Arctic spring. 

'It is like a horror movie. There was bloody rain,' said one social media comment. 

There were concerns that the pollution was poisonous, but this was denied by owners of the plant Nornickel, and the phenomenon only covered a small area. 

The explanation soon became clear. 

In fact the ‘red rain’ was not what it seemed. 

A source for the company explained that on Saturday a clean-up was underway around the plant. 

This involved removing iron oxide from the surface and, for example, the roof of a sulphur production workshop.

The material 'was gathered and prepared to be taken away'.

Then a gust of wind flew the dust from the piles of debris - and the rain glued it to the cars in the lot and surrounding surface. 

‘The colouring was found only on the parking lot,' said the source. 

‘The Control and Analytical Department carries out analysis of the collected samples.’

Similarly the recent reddish colouring of a river did not signal new pollution, insisted officials at the company. 

Nikolay Utkin, director of the Polar Division of Norilsk Nickel, told The Siberian Times: ‘The reason why the water in the Doldykan River got the reddish-brown colour is the active melting of snow, a powerful flood, which washes off the stuff that had been gathering here for decades. 

‘Unfortunately, during the Soviet era, the environmental issues were resolved on a residual basis. 

‘At present, Norilsk Nickel is making serious efforts to solve this problem.'