STUCK....The
whale shortly after it was found stuck in shallow waters in Kuala Penyu, where
rescue workers could not do much other than hoping for high tide to enable them
to free it.
By : ELTON GOMES
KOTA KINABALU: A 5.8-meter
long whale which was found stranded in shallow waters near shore at Kampung
Setompok, Kuala Penyu yesterday, died despite efforts by various authorities to
rescue it.
The whale, believed to be
trapped by changing tide, was said to have died at about 8pm, some 10 hours
after it was found, while rescue workers tried to move it back into the open
sea.
Kuala Penyu Fisheries
Department officer Julin Bagang said the whale was alive but weak when it was
found due to some injuries on its body.
He said the mammal was
spotted around 10am by a local fisherman who notified the Fisheries Department.
The department immediately
sought help from the Fire and Rescue Department and the Wildlife Department to
try to rescue the whale.
Julin said assistance was
also sought from WWF Malaysia, but the main problem faced by rescue workers was
logistics.
He said however that they
were unable to do much to help the whale except to keep it calm and hope for
high tide so that they could guide it back into the sea.
Julin also said they were
unable to identify the whale’s species, but he believed it may be a sperm or
blue whale (theborneopost)
No comments:
Post a Comment