KOTA KINABALU: A 15.8m long whale that beached in Sabah’s west coast Kuala Penyu district has died 12 hours after it was first spotted.

Despite efforts to keep it alive by firemen, fisheries and wildlife department officers and residents, the mammal lost its fight to survive at 8pm.

Kuala Penyu Fisheries Department officer Julin Bagang confirmed that the whale was dead, adding that they would decide on what to do with the carcass.

The whale was washed ashore early Wednesday morning.

A fishermen reported the sighting of the stranded whale along the shores of Kg Pitutan in Kuala Penyu about 140kms from here.

According to Bagang, said they had tried to guide the whale back to the open sea.

“We were hoping for a high tide but it did not survive,” he said adding that the department lacked manpower and equipment to help the whale.

Bagang said they would wait for an expert to identify the whale though some people in the area claimed that it could be a sperm or blue whale.

Local residents in the area said they have not heard or seen whales beaching in the coast along Kuala Penyu.

This is the fourth reported case of stranded whales in the west coast of Sabah.

In 2006, a 20m Bryde’s whale stranded at Gaya Island off the city here. It was rescued but later died. Another whale found in Tanjung Aru beach here was rescued.

In February this year, a 12m Baleen whale was found dead in Pulau Mengalum waters about 40 nautical miles from the city here.

– THE STAR