The carcass of an almost 17-meter fin whale washed up on Mediterranean shore. This happened as part of the aftermath of a storm that caused massive tar pollution, an AFP photographer reported Friday.

Powerful winds and unusually high waves pummelled the Mediterranean coastline over Tuesday and Wednesday, with tonnes of tar staining beaches.

The rare appearance of the dead whale, of the second-biggest mammal species in the world after the Blue Whale, was initially thought to have been connected to the tar pollution. The tar, itself apparently released by a ship unloading oil or by old tar lifted by the storm from the seabed, killed many marine creatures. That had sparked theories that the 16.9-meter male fin whale, weighing an estimated 25 tons, had also fallen victim to poisoning. However experts determined that the decayed state of the whale, discovered Thursday, meant it had died some two weeks ago.