Authorities announced on Saturday that the Cyprus government is looking into how seven whales inexplicably washed up dead on the rocky shoreline of the island’s north coast.
There were rumors that three other whales of the same species had been discovered dead on beaches in the secessionist Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, to the east.
The island in the eastern Mediterranean where whales are occasionally observed but not frequently has seen the highest number of whale deaths ever.
Cuvier’s beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris), known for diving deeper and longer than any other species of animal, were all the whales that perished.
The whales were discovered on numerous beaches along the north coast, between Polis and Pachyammos.
On Thursday, a first whale and three beached whales that had been forced back into the water were discovered dead. On Friday, six more people were discovered dead, which may or may not have included the three that were saved on Thursday.
“The autopsy of the Ziphius species whale was carried out to establish their causes of death after the six dead whales washed up on the northern coast of Paphos (district),” Department of Fisheries and Marine Research official Ioannis Ioannou told the state-run Cyprus News Agency.
He claimed that specialists took samples for more in-depth analysis.
This is the first time that there have been so many dead whales discovered. Two incidences were noted in 2021 and 2022, however only one animal was engaged in each.
