PARIS, July 3 (Reuters) - The French farm ministry said on Tuesday it suspects that three swans found dead in eastern France may have been killed by the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.

"The first results show a suspicion of bird flu. These tests are in the process of being confirmed at the reference laboratory of the French food safety agency AFSSA (...) to determine whether it was the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain," the ministry said in a statement.

It added it had already put protection measures in place in the surrounding area.