British News Agency

The mass deaths of olive ridley turtles, once endangered, have led to increased wildlife patrols and stricter restrictions on fishing boats.

Kuppusamy Sivakumar, an ecology professor at Pondicherry University, stated: "I haven't heard of this many turtles washing up on Tamil Nadu's shores in at least thirty years".

Most of the turtles were found near the state capital, Chennai. Olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) gather on India's shores annually to breed. Female turtles return to the beaches where they hatched to lay eggs, while males remain in the water. Sivakumar noted: "That's why having more than a thousand turtles stranded is astonishing".

The initial necropsy found lung lesions, and many dead turtles had swollen eyes, suggesting they may have died from suffocation or drowning. The official autopsy report has not yet been released.