Blue whale rescued off Dapoli coast in Maharashtra

Image for representational purposes only

Mumbai: Days after a nearly 37-feet-long bryde's whale was spotted dead on the Juhu beach in Mumbai, another huge blue whale was found along the Dapoli coast in Maharashtra's Konkan region.

The 40-foot-long blue whale, which was found stranded in the three-feet shallow waters along the beach at Kolthare village in Dapoli tehsil of Ratnagiri district, was rescued by the locals and marine experts on Wednesday.

"The whale was tied to two boats and taken around three km into the sea," N Vasudevan, Chief Conservator of Forests (mangrove cell) was quoted as saying to Press Trust of India.

According to a forest offical, this is the first incident where one has been rescued after the recent incidents involving deaths of stranded whales.

Carcasses of 45 Baleen Whales were washed ashore recently near Tiruchendur beach in Tamil Nadu while more than 250 stranded whales were pushed back into the deep sea.

In June last year, a 42-feet-long blue whale was washed ashore at Revdanda coast, about 17 km south of Alibaug in neighbouring Raigad district.

Forest officials had contacted marine biologists after spotting the whale while it was struggling to survive. However, the whale died later.

Last week, a big bryde's whale, weighing 20 tonne, had died after being washed ashore to Juhu beach and was buried beyond the high tide line there.

The Bryde's Whale is an endangered species found in the Arabian Sea.

(With PTI inputs)