Residents And Fishermen Save Stranded Whales On Citepus Beach Sukabumi

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION/UNSPLASH+

SUKABUMI - Residents and fishermen in Palabuhanratu, Sukabumi Regency, West Java, rescued the bottlenose whale stranded on Citepus Beach.

"It is suspected that the whale was stranded to the beach because it was driven by waves or sea waves that were currently tidal," said Sukabumi Police Chief AKP Tenda Sukendar as reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, August 9.

According to Tenda, the whale that was stranded on the sand of Citepus Beach, Citepus Village, Palabuhanratu District, is suspected of being a type of bottlenose whale.

Residents and fishermen found the stranded whale at around 09.00 WIB, which was found still alive but had several wounds on the animal's body.

The whale size is about three meters long with an estimated weight of 300 kilograms. Residents and fishermen who saw the whale tried to pull it to a deeper coastal area in order to swim.

Due to the large weight, it was difficult for residents and fishermen to pull to a deeper beach location, so that his party coordinated with the Indonesian Fishermen Association (HNSI) of Sukabumi Regency to use fishing boats to evacuate the whales to the middle of the sea so that they could swim.

"It is quite difficult to evacuate the whale, apart from the large weight, it is also constrained by the waves, so that the whale's body is again pushed by the waves to the beach. Therefore, we coordinate with HNSI to provide ships to evacuate the whale to the middle of the sea," he added.

Thanks to this collaboration, the largest mammal on earth was finally rescued and was able to return to the southern sea of Sukabumi Regency.

Meanwhile, one of the local residents, Misbah, said he was surprised to see a large whale stranded on the beach. He immediately called his friend, who is a fisherman, to jointly pull the whale from the beach to the sea.

To evacuate the whale, he said, it took quite a long time for more than an hour. Even after being tried repeatedly, it still failed because the waves leading to the beach were quite large.

"When he was evacuated, his condition was still alive and he could swim. It is suspected that this whale was stranded to the beach because he was pushed by the waves while swimming in a shallow marine location," he said.

Misbah said that the southern sea waters of Sukabumi Regency are often crossed by whales. Even an incident like this is not the first time.