This is the moment a huge ten-tonne whale carcass was dragged ashore after it was found floating in the sea.
The Bryde's whale was seen last Thursday (June 20) by local fishermen while they were heading back to the shore in Surat Thani, southern Thailand.
Local governor Wichawut Jinto along with environmental officers arrived at Tha Chana bay in the afternoon before bringing the carcass to the coast for establishing the cause of death.
Residents assumed that the whale was called 'Jao-Den', one of the three Bryde's whales identified as living in the area in recent years.
A local fisherman said: ''Those three whales like to come around here for the food. Sometimes, they appear in front of us and even swim close to boats. They’re very friendly.''
Scientists performed a necropsy on Jao-Den, which was 35-feet-long and weighed at least 22,000 pounds (10 tonnes).
The examination on Sunday (June 23) revealed that there were three possible reasons for its death. The animal might have been ill and subsequently struck some rocks, it could have become trapped by fishing nets, or it might have been struck by a trawler.
Watchara Sakornwimol, a veterinarian from the Marine and Coastal Resources Research and Development Centre, the Central Gulf of Thailand, said: ''Many parts of his tail and ribs were bruised. He also had some problem with the digestive system, suggesting that he was sick and didn’t want to eat much.
“Other internal organs such as liver, spleen, kidney, were already decomposed which made it impossible to identify further abnormalities.''
The staff collected some parts of his skin for research while the skeleton will be displayed at a local museum for tourists and residents to study.