Seven dead whales have been found dead on the island of Cyprus, south of Turkiye. Amid speculation that the mass deaths were caused by the aftermath of the strong earthquake, authorities launched an investigation to determine the cause.
According to AFP on the 11th (local time), four whales were found off the coast of northern Cyprus on the 9th, the fourth day after the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria.
One of them was already dead. The other three were rescued and released by the Cyprus Fisheries and Marine Research Department.
The next day, the bodies of six whales were found on the northern beach of the island. It has not been confirmed whether these include the three that were returned to the sea the day before.
All of the dead whales are known as ‘beaked whales’, which can dive the deepest and longest among mammals.
Whales occasionally appear in the waters off Cyprus, but they are not common. In particular, the mass death of whales is unusual in that humpback whales are rarely found.
Giannis Ioanu, a member of the Cyprus Department of Fisheries and Marine Research, said in an interview with local broadcaster Sigma TV, “The whales have an echolocation system (which uses sound waves to determine their location), so they are affected by noise from the sea. It could be affected by military exercises or natural earthquakes,” he explained.
Cyprus is an eastern Mediterranean island country to the west of Syria and south of Turkiye, which was damaged by the devastating earthquake that started on the 6th. It is about 500 km away from Gaziantep, southeast of Turkiye, where the 7.8 magnitude earthquake occurred.
Authorities in Cyprus have launched an investigation into the exact cause of the whale deaths. The Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans Investigations told Cyprus state news agency that “an autopsy was conducted to determine the cause of death of the dead gull whales.”
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.