SAN SALVADOR, May 13 (AFP) - Authorities in El Salvador said Thursday that they have unearthed some 300 tonnes of expired medicine buried years ago, and apparently forgotten, raising fears of ground water contamination.

Health Minister Isabel Rodriguez said the medicine had been buried as long as a decade ago at the ministry's site in the town of Soyapango, about five kilometers (three miles) east of the capital city of San Salvador.

Fearing that the cache of prescription drugs could contaminate the area's aquifers, officials ordered the medicine removed from the site.

Rodriguez, meanwhile, assured the public that tests have shown that the area's drinking water has not been contaminated by the drugs, and that the medication would be disposed of in a manner more in keeping with environmental regulations.