Millions of Dead Prawns Found Stranded on Beach

This Wednesday, locals of the town Coronel, South of Santiago, witnessed an unusual sight. They noticed huge red spots off the beach. The red spots were formed by millions of dead small prawns that had washed up the shore.

Officials are trying to investigate the cause of such an unusual phenomenon.  But local fishermen blame the country's top electricity generator Endesa Chile for such a mass stranding.

The stranded prawns on the beach in Southern Chile covered atleast a two mile strand in red according to the local fishermen and police, reports AFP.

Endesa Chile Project Manager Marcelo was quoted in The Associated Press stating, "The company studies indicate the die-off is due to the flow of deep waters coming from the continental platform, induced by currents of wind on the ocean. Endesa plans to cooperate with the official investigation."

Fishermen union president Juan Gutierrez, who was shocked with this incident, was quoted in AFP saying that by Tuesday he had noticed that the red mass had shifted to the land. "I've been a fisherman 39 years and have never seen anything like it before," he said. The increasing number of prawns clumping near the shoreline indicates that another mass standing can happen, he added.

Locals were involved in the process of removing the dead prawns from the beach that blanketed the shorelines in red. The samples of the dead prawns were collected by the civil police in order to investigate the cause of the mass stranding.

Environmental crimes investigator Victor Casanova was quoted in AFP stating, "Officials will determine conditions in the Coronel Bay, including it's "temperature, electrical conductivity, and, especially, oxygen."

In addition to this, hundreds of dead crabs were seen washed up in the same area over the weekend.