Is this China's Loch Ness monster? Bizarre 'creature' is spotted

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A woman in China has claimed to have filmed a 50ft-long creature breaching the surface of a small lake in a mysterious sighting that has drawn comparisons to the Loch Ness monster.

Ms Li claims to have seen the bizarre creature while visiting Lake Tianchi in north-western China on August 31.

Ms Li, from Shanghai, said she heard what sounded like fish splashing in the water. 

She told local media: 'At first, I thought it might be several fish, but upon closer inspection, it was just one long, silver-coloured creature.

'It felt like it could be about 15 metres [50 feet] long.'

Phone footage filmed by Ms Li shows the still surface of the lake being disturbed by something swimming underneath and causing waves and ripples.

She claimed that the creature was moving in a regular pattern, and it was swimming quite fast.

Staff at the scenic area later responded saying that due to the unclear quality of the video and the lack of a clear description, they could not determine what exactly it was.

The staff added, however, that similar situations have been reported by other tourists in the past, but were also unable to identify the species due to the distance.

They added: 'Imagination is quite vivid. We hope there really is an aquatic creature that can satisfy everyone's curiosity, but whether it exists or not is hard to say.'

The staff also noted that known aquatic creatures in Tianchi include rainbow trout, among others. However, none of them exceed three feet long.

In 2020, a similar creature was claimed to have been 'spotted' on the surface of the Tianchi, or 'Heaven Lake', at the Changbai Mountain in Jilin Province.

The alpine lake is renowned for having a mysterious beast - the Chinese equivalent to the Loch Ness Monster - said to be first sighted nearly six decades ago.