Dead whales washed up in Cyprus likely linked to earthquakes

Several dead whales that washed up on the north coast of Cyprus probably died as a result of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, an expert has said.

Yiannos Ioannou, an official from Cyprus' Department of Fisheries, said that the rare Cuvier's Beaked Whales were washed ashore east of the city of Polis Chrysochous.

Two out of four of the whales found on Thursday were still alive and unharmed, and were pushed back into the sea by volunteers from a local youth centre, Ioannou added.

On Friday, three more whales were found on northern beaches controlled by the Turkish army, Xinhua news agency reported.

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"The fact that the mass beaching of whales occurred on coasts which are ... near the epicentre of the quake in Turkey cannot be coincidence. It seems that their deaths may be connected to the effects of the quake," he told CyBC state radio.

Some of the whales found on Friday could be the same ones that were pushed back into the sea on Thursday, he added.

Experts from the Fisheries Department are now examining the carcasses of the whales to establish whether they died from the effects of the quake on the ecosystem in the region, Ioannou said.

He added that other possible causes for their deaths could be naval exercises, or seismic operations for the discovery of hydrocarbons. However, no such activities have been reported in the region in recent weeks.