Whale's belly full of treasure - 9th July 2021

A dead sperm whale found out at sea has turned around the lives of a band of Yemeni fishermen.

Fisherman Abdulhakeem and his companions set out to fish as normal, but stumbled upon the mammal's body floating on the water's surface.

Fares Abdulhakeem: "I head out to sea everyday in search of my daily catch. And on one of those days, we found a dead whale. It turned out to be a whale full of ambergris."

Ambergris, used in the manufacture of costly fragrances, is a bizarre substance for aiding digestion in sperm whales. It is only rarely found in their intestines.

Once on dry land, the fishermen sliced open the deceased whale and brought the valuable ambergris to light. The precious nugget weighed an immense 12 kilogrammes. It was snapped up by an Emirati entrepreneur for $1.5 million.

For Abdulhakeem and his friends, residing in a country torn apart by an ongoing civil war and with its people locked in poverty, this is an unimaginable gift. The find has forever changed the lives of these fishermen in a country the UN counts among the poorest in the world.

Fares Abdulhakeem: "Many people made a good use of it. There are those who bought boats, others built or fixed their houses. I built my house - I built my future. The circumstances here are already difficult."

Whilst life has been transformed for this group of men and their fellow villagers, the friends intend to keep on fishing indefinitely.

Salim Sharf: "We are simple people, fishermen looking for our catch everyday. If you found your catch for the day, you thank God. Suddenly, the Most Merciful gave us this."