Authorities in Puerto Rico are monitoring two dense-beaked whales that got free and are swimming off the US territory’s northwest coast after becoming stranded along with one which died.

Natural Resources Secretary Carmen Guerrero said it is rare to see Blainville's beaked whales strand themselves on the island.

The third whale was a 2.4m calf which stranded itself in Aguadilla on Friday.

Mr Guerrero said biologists transported it to a nearby zoo, but there was no way to artificially feed that type of calf and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ordered it to be put down.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.