Sick whale with dozens of plastic bags in stomach dies

About 80 plastic bags were found in the stomach of a small male pilot whale that died in Thailand after a five-day effort to save it, marine officials said on Sunday.

The whale was discovered lastMonday in a canal in the southern province of Songkhla and received treatment from a team of veterinarians.

The whale spat out five plastic bags on Friday and later died, the marine and coastal resources department said on its website.

An necropsy found another 80 bags and other plastic items weighing eight kilogramsin the whale's stomach.

Jatuporn Buruspat, head of the department, said they planned to raise public awareness of the problem on World Oceans Day on June 8 and call for reduced use of plastic.

Thais use huge numbers of plastic bags, but authorities have launched campaigns to try to encourage people to use fewer and to introduce reusable bags.