Tainan City, Taiwan
Another well-known explosion occurred on January 26, 2004, in
Tainan City, Taiwan, this time from a more natural cause: the buildup of gas inside a decomposing
sperm whale caused it to burst. The explosion was initially mysterious, since it unexpectedly occurred in the spine of the whale. It was later determined that the whale had likely been struck by a large shipping vessel, damaging its spine, and leading to its death. The whale had died after beaching on the southwestern coast of Taiwan, and it had taken three large cranes and 50 workers more than 13 hours to shift the beached sperm whale onto the back of a truck.
Taiwan News reported that, while the whale was being moved, "... a large crowd of more than 600 local
Yunlin residents and curiosity seekers, along with vendors selling snack food and hot drinks, braved the cold temperature and chilly wind to watch workmen try to haul away the dead marine mammal".
[14] Professor Wang Chien-ping had ordered the whale be moved to the Sutsao Wild Life Reservation Area after he had been refused permission to perform a
necropsy at the
National Cheng Kung University in Tainan. When it exploded, the whale was on the back of a truck near the center of Tainan,
en route from the university laboratory to the preserve.
The bursting whale splattered blood and whale entrails over surrounding shop-fronts, bystanders, and cars.
BBC News Online interviewed an unnamed Taiwanese local who said, "What a stinking mess. This blood and other stuff that blew out on the road is disgusting, and the smell is really awful."
[15] The explosion did not, however, prevent researchers from performing a
necropsy on the animal.
Over the course of about one year, Wang completed a bone display from the remains of the whale. The assembled specimen and some preserved organs and tissues have been on display in the Taijiang Cetacean Museum since April 8, 2005.
