Six dead whales washed up off the coast of Cyprus last Friday, likely victims of the earthquake that hit southern Turkey and northern Syria this week, Cyprus’ Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Research announced.
The mammals were found on a beach on that island in the Mediterranean Sea, about 150 kilometers off the coast of Turkey.
According to Yiannis Ioannou, of the Department of Fishing and Marine Research in Cyprus, the death of these Cuvier’s beaked whales, a species not usually found in that region, must have been caused by the vibrations of the sea caused by the strong tremors, which fatally affected the whales’ geolocation system.
“These animals have a geolocation system that is influenced by the sound of the sea,” Ioannou began with the Sigma TV television station, adding that the death could have been caused by “military exercises, seismic exercises or, of course, by the earthquake in the region “.
It should be noted that on Thursday another four whales were found stranded in Cyprus, one of which had died, while the other three had been returned to the sea.
Source: DN
