More Than 20 Endangered Whales Found Beached in Southern Chile

Chilean officials said that a few dozen beached sei whales were found dead along the southern coast of the Chile.

German biologist Vreni Haussermann, who led the group that found the whales, said, "They were everywhere, none were injured, so we thought they suffered from a red tide (algal bloom) or a virus".

It's not unusual to find beached whales along Chile's 4,200km coast. However, it's the first time sei whales have been found beached in the country, the Fisheries Service said Friday.

The International Union for Conservation of Natures has listed the creatures as endangered, after being hunted nearly to extinction during the middle of the 20th century.

The sei whale became a major target for commercial whaling after the preferred stocks of blue and fin whales had been depleted.

Since 1985, the International Whaling Commission has officially halted all commercial whaling of the species.

The Fisheries Service is still in the process of investigating the beaching and has yet to release official findings on the death of the whales.