Civil Protection personnel pulled out the carcass of a dead whale that had washed ashore on a beach approximately ten kilometers west of Egypt’s northwestern city of Marsa Matrouh, privately-owned al-Wafd reported.
The whale, which was first spotted by city locals who then reported it to the authorities, is around 15 meters long and weighs seven tons. An earlier version of this article had cited the general director of the Fisheries Authority in Matrouh as saying the animal is a humpback whale native to the Atlantic Ocean. However, its appearance suggests it is a sperm whale.
He went on to say that the whale had come to the warm waters of the Mediterranean to find a mate but was stranded due to the shallow waters outside Marsa Matrouh, which have a depth of no more than ten meters.
In video clips posted on social media, the whale carcass can be seen bobbing back and forth in the salty water, while a number of bystanders watch and take pictures.
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