Whale found dead in north-central Vietnam

Local authorities and residents in Dien Chau District, Nghe An Province, managed to bring the whale body to the mainland on the evening of May 27 for burial.

The mammal’s body was floating in the sea area of Dien Chau District at around 7:00 am in the morning when Hoang Cong Khai, a local resident, was fishing there.

“The body was about two nautical miles away from the shore and was being pushed toward the mainland by waves,” Khai recounted, saying that local fishing boats and ships of the border defense force then towed it to the shore.

“The cetacean, over 10 meters in length and about seven metric tons in weight, was heavily decaying and emitting strong odor,” he said, insisting that it is not the whale previously rescued.

Local residents and fishing boats pull the whale toward the mainland for burial.

Nguyen Chi Luong, chief of the provincial fishery department, said that the location where the whale was found is near the place where local residents helped a stranded whale return to the sea earlier this week.

The body, however, is in putrefaction stage, so it might have died a week ago,” Luong added.

Many people flock to the coastline to see the creature’s body.

According to the news website Nghe An, local officials have confirmed that the marine mammal is not the one saved three days ago.

Local dwellers and authorities in Nghe An successfully helped the stranded whale swim back to the sea at noon on May 25.