ISTANBUL

Hvaldimir, a beluga whale that drew public attention since 2019 after being seen wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead in Norway, according to a nonprofit dedicated to protecting it.

Sebastian Strand, a marine biologist and founder of the Norway-based nonprofit organization Marine Mind, stated that he saw the dead whale floating near Risavikain southwestern Norway, the New York Times reported on Saturday.

Strand noted that the cause of the whale's death was not yet clear and reported that there were markings around it that could have been caused by birds or other marine creatures.

In 2019, Hvaldimir was spotted swimming off northern Norway with a special device attached to it, seemingly designed to hold a camera, and it soon became world famous as a "spy" whale.

Due to speculation that it had been trained as a "spy" by Russia, the whale was nicknamed Hvaldimir, a combination of the Norwegian word for whale, "hval," and the name Vladimir.

Norwegian officials noted that the device attached to the captured marine mammal appeared to be specially designed and had mounts for GoPro cameras on both sides of the animal.​​​​​​​

They also said clips on the device were labeled "St. Petersburg," contributing to the theory that Hvaldimir came from Russia's Murmansk region and had been trained by the Russian Navy.