47-foot-long blue whale washes ashore in Maharashtra; rescued within 6 hours! - Watch video

As per reports, the 20-tonne whale had drifted into shallow waters, maybe in search of food, and washed ashore near Madban village, close to Jaitapur nuclear power plant in Ratnagiri district.

Image courtesy: Maharashtra Forest Department

New Delhi: What seemed like the end for a 47-foot long blue whale, turned out to be a happy ending. The poor whale had been washed ashore at a beach in Maharashtra, however, it was rescued and sent back into deep waters, thanks to the intervention of locals and fishermen.

As per reports, the stranded 20-tonne whale had drifted into shallow waters on Sunday, maybe in search of food, and washed ashore near Madban village, close to Jaitapur nuclear power plant in Ratnagiri district.

"It appeared emaciated and must have drifted some days ago. But since this is an isolated spot, it was spotted only yesterday and we were informed by the locals," said N Vasudevan, chief conservator, Marine Conservation, the Times of India reported.

The rescue operation lasted six hours, which finally resulted in the mammal being led into the deep seas.

This is the second successful rescue of a blue whale in the same region. A 40-foot long whale was rescued in Ratnagiri in February this year in a nine-hour long operation.

Watch the video shared on Twitter below:

#BlueWhale was rescued by two boats that pulled mammal back to deep waters. 50 ppl involved in rescue ops pic.twitter.com/CjzBisPHnP — Badri Chatterjee (@ChatterjeeBadri) September 11, 2016