The dolphins kept swimming back to shore despite being carried into the water
Fishermen in Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin spent nearly four hours trying to rescue over 20 dolphins that washed ashore and got stranded on the beach on Monday night. Despite their best efforts, however, four of the dolphins died.
Fishermen spotted the pod of dolphins as they washed up on the beach along a tiny fishing hamlet called Punnakayal.
The dolphins kept swimming back despite being carried into the water. Some were even carried back into the water via boats. Sadly, the carcases of four dolphins were later discovered.
Fishermen spent hours trying to rescue over 20 dolphins that washed ashore a beach in Punnakayal
"Sometimes dolphins lose navigation and stray chasing their favourite food," District Forest Officer in charge D Sampath tells NDTV, adding that all the dolphins, other than the four who died, were successfully saved.
Marine experts are now performing post-mortems on the dolphins to determine the exact cause of their deaths.
Post-mortems on the four dolphins will help experts determine the exact cause of their deaths
Sadly, this isn't the first time something like this has happened in the Tuticorin district.
Last year,
80 short-filled pilot whales beached along a 15-kilometre stretch of coast near Tiruchendur. Of them, 45 whales later died mysteriously.
In 1973, 147 whales died in Tamil Nadu after being washed ashore.Click for more
trending news