Pictures of turtles’ skeletons lying intact in an underwater cave have surfaced after a diver spotted came across them.
Josh Vergara, 34, from the Philippines, discovered the tomb of dead turtles on Sipadan Island in Malaysia, whilst on holiday on March 26.
Spooky pictures of the one-in-a-kind boneyard show the animals’ skeletons scattered around on the bed of the Indian Ocean.
Vergara said he thinks the turtles got lost in the caves, and needing air to breathe, died of asphyxia.
There is also reportedly an intact skeleton of a dolphin who could have experienced a similar disorientation.
The idea the sea turtles may have gone there to breed has previously been debunked as they hatch on the sand, not in caves.
The customers broker said: ‘Turtle Tomb in Sipadan is the only known turtle graveyard in the world.’
He said proceeding into the dark cave was ‘scary’, and the deeper he swam the ‘more turtle remains’ he found.
The unique site was first sighted by the famous ocean explorer Captain Jacques Yves Cousteau back in the 1980s.
He believed the reptiles had gone there to die peacefully.
The entryway to the Turtle Cavern is next to a large limestone wall that begins a few meters below the surface.
The cave reaches up to 600 metres of depth, while its mouth is located at a depth of 20 meters from the surface.
