More than 300 huge sei whales have been found washed up in a remote inlet in Patagonia in southern Chile in what is believed to the largest and most horrific stranding of large whales on record, researchers said.
“It was an apocalyptic sight. I'd never seen anything like it,” one of the scientists who made the discovery, Vreni Haussermann of the Huinay Scientific Centre, said Tuesday.
Scientists launched an expedition to count the animals after 20 sei whales were reported dead in April, beached in an extremely remote region some 2,000km south of the capital Santiago.
In this photo taken on April 21, 2015, and released on Tuesday a dead Sei whale lies in Caleta Buena, in the southern Aysen region of Chile. Photo: Associated Press
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When the researchers flew over the region in June, they found the scale of the die-off was much larger: at least 337 dead whales, “including bodies and skeletons,” said Haussermann.
“There are still a lot of areas we haven't managed to reach, so it's likely there are more dead whales,” she said.
