THOUSANDS of fish in a Manchester city centre canal are at risk after a damaged sluice gate left water levels dangerously low.

Engineers have worked through the night to stem the leak on the Bridgewater Canal in Castlefield. Water levels are said to be dangerously low.

The Environment Agency said on Tuesday that work to stop the leak had only partially succeeded. "There is still water leaking," a spokeswoman told BBC Manchester.

The canal supports more than 30 species of invertebrate and fish compared with fewer than five in 1991 after a clean-up initiative in 2003.