Santiago: More than 20 dead whales were found on the beach in southern Chile, maritime officials have said as they tried to determine what killed them and when.
The whales, discovered beached along the northern Gulf of Penas, measured about 10 meters long, according to officials with Chile's national fisheries service.
Officials on Friday identified them as sei whales, which are internationally protected after being hunted nearly to extinction during the middle of the 20th century.
The animals were discovered by a group of foreign scientists who were conducting research in the area.
"The number of dead whales could be over 20, but we have not tallied the total," a fisheries service source told, declining to be identified.
The service said in an earlier statement that the preliminary death toll was 15.
Bad weather was hampering attempts to determine exactly how many whales had died and when.
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