Volunteers of Sahyadri Nisarg Mitra and forest officials rescuing the stranded blue whale on Dapoli beach in Ratnagiri district.
© Mohan UpadhyeVolunteers of Sahyadri Nisarg Mitra and forest officials rescuing the stranded blue whale on Dapoli beach in Ratnagiri district.
The whale, weighing approximately 25 tonnes, was seemingly stranded in the shallows during the night because of the high tide and was then trapped in the sand.

Sightings of whales along the coastline of Maharashtra seem to have become a common occurrence. Three days after a 45-feet-long Bryde's Whale was found dead on the Juhu beach, another behemoth whale was spotted around 200 km away from Mumbai.

A 40-feet-long blue whale was spotted stranded in the shallow waters of Dapoli beach in Ratnagiri district by members of the Sahyadri Nisarg Mitra on February 1, who successfully rescued it and sent it back into deeper seas.

According to the environmental group, on a chilly morning at around 6 am, a volunteer of the group saw the whale struggling to keep itself in the waters, almost 100 metres from the shore.

The whale, weighing approximately 25 tonnes, was seemingly stranded in the shallows during the night because of the high tide and was then trapped in the sand.

"Immediately, the volunteer alerted other members of the group and we informed the forest officials," Project Director, Mohan Upadhye from Dapoli said. The distress call by the group was heeded by around 25 men of the village, alongside a strong force of forest officials as well.

Upon reaching the spot, they saw that the whale stuck in the sand. Efforts started to keep it in water, while a veterinarian checked the mammal for any injury.

"The vet found that the whale was suffering from some infection, he administered an injection and then the whale started beating water with its tail," Upadhye added.

A herculean task involving watering the whale and checking its vitals was carried out for more than five hours.

Whale rescue
© Mohan Upadhye
At 5 pm, during the high tide, the group brought two trawlers to tow the whale back into deeper waters. They safely attached a thick rope to the tail of the whale and started to tow it into the deep sea.

"The rope broke twice because of the sheer weight of the whale. However on the third attempt, we were successful in putting it in deep waters," Upadhye told.

Swimmers untied the rope from the whale which gracefully dived in the Arabian Sea, before surfing up once.