shark
Representative Image.
A giant whale shark died on Thumba beach, where it washed ashore on Sunday afternoon after it was unable to return to sea despite the repeated efforts of the local fishermen.

According to visuals on news channels, a large number of people turned up at the beach to see the whale shark and several of them either clicked selfies close to the huge fish or shot videos of its body flopping around in the waves.

The visuals also showed the local fishermen attempting to push the shark back into the waters from the beach and also trying to pull it into the sea using a rope tied to a boat, but their efforts were unsuccessful.


Thereafter, the police and officials from the forest department, panchayat and revenue department arrived at the scene and the shark was examined for any sign of life by a veterinarian.

A forest official, who was at the site, said that according to the preliminary findings of the veterinary surgeon, there were no external injuries on the whale shark which was nearly 7 meters long and weighed around 1000 kilograms.

He said that once an autopsy is carried out, the cause of death can be ascertained. He also said that it was possible the shark was already dead and then it washed ashore, but time of death can only be confirmed after the autopsy. However, a post mortem was not possible on Sunday as the officials had reached the site only by evening and therefore, it would probably be carried out tomorrow.

Police said that after the post mortem, the fish would be buried near the beach.