Poor Yemeni fishermen find treasure in a dead whale

Yemeni fisherman Faris Abdel Hakim, who went out with a group of friends to earn daily sustenance at sea, did not expect to fall upon a treasure trove of amber in the carcass of a dead whale.

During an ordinary day last February, Faris and a group of 35 fishermen found the carcass of a dead sperm whale floating on the surface of the sea, 26 kilometers off the coast of Aden, southern Yemen.

The fishermen retrieved the whale's carcass and dragged it ashore, where they opened it and found ambergris inside its intestines, a rare species used in making perfume.

The amber, which weighed 127 kilograms, was sold to a businessman for 1.5 million dollars, an amount that many can not imagine in the country, which is considered the poorest in the world.

The amount was divided equally among the group of fishermen and part of it was also distributed to the needy.

The fishermen say that finding the whale carcass changed their lives for the better and enabled them to secure their future.

For Abdel Hakim and the group of fishermen, they are back to hunting again.

"This sea is indispensable," he says. "Love of the sea runs in my blood. There is nothing more beautiful than it," continuing as he quotes a Yemeni popular proverb: "Just a sea and not a king."

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