100-foot-long Whale Carcass Washes Ashore in Maharashtra's Palghar

Palghar: A dead whale, measuring nearly 100 feet long, washed ashore in Maharashtra's Palghar district, said police on Tuesday. The carcass was spotted on Monday afternoon by fishermen on Arnala Beach, who alerted the local authorities, including the fisheries and revenue departments.

During investigation, it was suspected that the whale may have been struck by a ship or a large boat, leading to its death and subsequent drift ashore, an official from Arnala Sagri police station said. After the news spread in the area, a huge crowd gathered at the beach to catch a glimpse of the giant marine creature.

The carcass was spotted near Channel Gate, north of the Fort, which is nearly 700-M away from Arnala Killa village in Virar. “The dead whale got washed ashore after it was tossed in the high tide on Monday. Now it’s stuck at a place where the authorities concerned will have a tough time getting a machine to transport the bulky carcass to a place to dispose of it,” said a local source.

Authorities have indicated that the carcass will be disposed of following established protocols.

Whale carcass washes ashore in Andhra Pradesh

A similar case was reported in Andhra Pradesh's Srikakulam district on 26 February. A carcass of a whale shark, which washed ashore near Donkuru village in Ichapuram mandal of Srikakulam district, took locals by surprise on 27 February.

A video from the place of the incident went viral on social media platforms, where children were seen jumping on the carcass of the rare whale species, following which Palasa-Kasibugga forest range officer (FRO) A Murali Kirshna Naidu reached the spot and inspected the carcass.

Stating that the whale shark is about 6 meters long and 1.2 meters wide, the FRO informed that the animal might have died either due to starvation or injuries caused by mechanised boats in the sea. The exact reasons for the cause of death will be ascertained soon, he added.

Following the postmortem, the forest officials conducted the cremation procedure as per the forest protocols.

(Inputs from PTI)