A giant dead whale, nearly 13.4 meters (44 feet) long and 7.9 meters (26 feet) wide, was found on a southern Bangladesh beach on Friday, according to official and local sources.

Locals saw the behemoth lying on the shore of the Bay of Bengal in the southern tourist district of Cox's Bazar on Friday morning, told authorities.

According to preliminary reports, the whale might have died days ago at sea and gradually drifted to shore. There have been no fishing boats at sea for days due to an ongoing COVID-19 lockdown.

Local officials said they would investigate the whale’s cause of death, local media reported.

“We have called for assistance from all the concerned authorities, including a veterinary surgeon from the wildlife and nature conservation division to determine the cause of death,” Makhan Chandra Sutra Dhar, executive magistrate of Cox's Bazar district, was quoted by local media as saying.

He added that fire and civil defense teams would help remove the corpse from the beach./aa