COLOMBO : It was an adventurous sight to watch people at the Panadura beach pushing more than 100 stranded dolphins back to the sea.
Sri Lanka Police and the Sri Lanka Coast Guard have launched an operation to safely guide the whales back to the sea. Residents in the area as well are reportedly making a concerted effort to return the dolphins back into the sea.
Asha de Vos a Sri Lankan marine biologist in an Instagram post said based on the images obtained the whales are pilot whales, a species known to strand.
The short-finned pilot whales began beaching at Panadura, 25 kilometres (15 miles) south of Colombo, shortly before dusk and within an hour their numbers swelled to around 100, local police chief Sanjaya Irasinghe,AFP reported here
“With the help of local residents we are trying to push them back (into the ocean),” Irasinghe said.
“But they keep getting washed ashore. We are getting help from the navy to rescue these whales.”
Sri Lanka’s Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA), which was sending their officials to help with the rescue operation, said it was the largest single pod of whales stranded in the South Asian country.
“It is very unusual for such a large number to reach our shores,” MEPA chief Dharshani Lahandapura told AFP, adding that the cause of the stranding was not known.
“We think this is similar to the mass stranding in Tasmania in September.”
The beaching of 470 pilot whales in a remote harbour in Australia’s southern island state of Tasmania was the country’s largest-ever.
About 110 of the creatures were saved in a days-long rescue effort.
Pilot whales — which can grow up to six metres (20 feet) long and weigh a tonne — are highly social.
The causes of mass strandings remain unknown despite scientists studying the phenomenon for decades.(with input from agencies)