Over 100 whales washed ashore along the 15km stretch of coast near Tiruchendur in Tamil Nadu today. Over 45 of the short-finned pilot whales have died. Many have been saved by local fishermen.

Locals said that many more whales would have died but fishermen in the area ensured that they kept putting them back into the sea.

Wildlife experts are yet to ascertain the exact cause behind the 'strange' incident. According to officials, the whales seemed to have been disoriented as they returned to the shore even after being put back in the water.



45 whales dead. Photo: Twitter/ANI 45 whales dead. Photo: Twitter/ANI

On Monday, an earthquake of 6.5 magnitude and another one measuring 6.9 were recorded in Philippines and Indonesia respectively. These could have disoriented the whales.

45 whales dead. Photo: Twitter/ANI 45 whales dead. Photo: Twitter/ANI

In August, the carcass of a 33-feet-long whale was on a beach near a village in Nagapattinam district.

In India, the first ever report of mass stranding of this whale species was reported in Salt Lake in Kolkata in 1852.