Authorities in a Spanish coastal resort have apologised after spraying a beach with bleach in an attempt to protect children from coronavirus.
Zahara de los Atunes, near Cadiz, used tractors to spray more than 2km (1.2 miles) of beach with a bleach solution a day before Spain allowed children out of lockdown for the first time.
Environmentalists say the move caused "brutal damage" to the local ecosystem.
Spain has been badly affected by the coronavirus, with 23,800 deaths.
It recently announced a four-phase plan to lift its stringent lockdown measures and return to a "new normality" by the end of June.
María Dolores Iglesias, who heads an environmental volunteer group in the Cadiz region, said she had visited the beach at Zahara de los Atunes and seen the damage for herself.
She said the bleach "killed everything on the ground, nothing is seen, not even insects".
The beach and its dunes are protected breeding and nesting places for migratory birds and Ms Iglesias said she had seen at least one nest with eggs destroyed by the tractors.