Blue whale dies after being stuck for more than 12 hours near Alibaug

NAVI MUMBAI: A 42-feet-long blue whale was washed ashore at the Revdanda coast, which is 17km south of Alibaug. Forest officials have reportedly asked a marine biologist to identify the whale species.

“This big whale was first spotted on the shore on Wednesday afternoon. It was initially showing signs of life, so the villagers tried to push it back in the sea. However, the whale later died,” informed a local resident.
Despite efforts to move the 20-tonne marine animal by local fishermen and Alibaug forest department for more than 10 hours, the whale died ashore around 4am on Thursday, said officials from the forest department.

With the tide, the whale was washed up around 1.5 kilometre onto the beach, said N Vasudevan, chief conservator of forest, mangrove cell. “As the beach was shallow, the whale did not get enough water to survive. Usually, if such a large animal is beached for more than 12 hours, they do not survive, despite the locals and the forest department trying their best to keep it hydrated and using JCB machines to push it back into the sea. A shallow beach meant that the whale had to be taken deep inside, which was not possible,” he said.