Fishermen try to drag a whale that washed ashore in Manapad in Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin district. (AFP)
Despite rescue efforts, over 30 short-finned pilot whales died after over 120 have washed ashore on Tamil Nadu coast near Tuticorin.
At least 45 whales died after they washed ashore overnight on a beach in Tamil Nadu’s Tuticorin district, officials said on Tuesday, with experts attributing the deaths to a possible underwater disturbance like an earthquake or volcano.
“It appears the whales are in shock. It mainly happened due to unusual activity deep inside the sea,” said a scientist with the Chennai-based Central Marine Fisheries Institute. A team of experts have also rushed to the village for an on-the-spot assessment of the cause.
Pilot whales – known to be among some of the most social aquatic mammals -- are so named because they are led or ‘piloted’ by a leader in their search for food or breeding grounds.
A forest department official who had visited the beach said there were injury marks on the dead whales which indicated “high intensity” underwater activity.
“This may have happened hundreds of kilometres away and the whales may have been washed to the coast because of the tide,” said the official who did not give his name.
Rescue workers and fishermen worked through the day to pull the whales -- each weighing between 1 tonne to 1.5 tonne and measuring between 8 feet and 10 feet -- back into the sea.
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