GOVERNMENT officials fighting the latest outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease said last night they were concerned about the theft of a heavily contaminated pressure washer from a burial site for infected animals.

The machine, which had been used regularly at infected premises, could spread the disease.

The washer was being stored overnight at the Tow Law burial site, in County Durham. Thieves cut through a fence to steal it.

John Bradbury, regional operations director at Newcastle's Disease Emergency Control Centre, said: "This is a very serious situation.

"Anyone being offered a pressure washer from a less than reputable source could be buying a lot more than they bargained for."

At a liaison meeting with officials in Tow Law yesterday, residents asked for an explanation of the disappearance of water from Hedley Hope Beck, downstream from the burial site.

The beck runs under the Inkerman site and last week people noticed the stream had dried up. It has now been reduced to a trickle, and hundreds of fish have died.

People in the village fear that one of the burial pits has fallen through mine workings underneath the site and dammed the beck's source.

Peter Lister said: "Something that could cause an environmental impact of that nature has to be fairly serious.

"There's only one engineering project going on now, and that's the burial site.

"The beck is fed by an underground stream, and we fear that the weight of the cattle has caused it to collapse."

The Environment Agency said it would investigate the theory, but admitted it was baffled by the disappearance of the water.

A spokesman said they would be putting in flow gauges to see when and where variations in water volume occurred.

He said: "Basically, we're stumped. All ideas welcome. If they're sensible, we will be following them up."

Anyone with information about the theft of the washer is asked to ring (01388) 762011.

Read more about foot-and-mouth here.