A tourist on a helicopter spotted more than 50 dead pilot whales washed up on a remote beach in Western Iceland, on Thursday.
David Schwarzhans, a pilot for Reykjavik Helicopters, was on a sightseeing tour when they saw the dead whales washed up in a remote beach in Löngufjörur on Thursday.
The pilot and the passengers of the helicopter counted 50 pilot whales that were washed up on the remote island.
The pilot believes that there are more whales and are buried under the sand of the beach.
David said, ‘there might have been more. Some were already buried in the sand’.
David added that they found the wales in a small area on the beach.
He called the spotting as a “very bad scene”.
During an interview with BBC, David said, “We were flying northbound over the beach and then we saw them. We were circling over it not sure if it was whales, seals or dolphins. We landed and counted about 60 but there must have been more because there were fins sticking out of the sand.”
Many believe that the wales swam ashore together and died due to dehydration.
Pilot whales are notorious when it comes to mass numbers.
Scientists still do not understand them entirely.
Last year, nearly 145 pilot whales were found dead on an island in New Zealand.