Kendrapara (Orissa), April 10. (PTI): Millions of tiny olive ridley sea turtle hatchlings are now emerging out of nests at the Gahirmatha beach in Orissa's Kendrapara district, wildlife officials said on Monday.

The eggs laid by thousands of adult females in the Nasi-2 and Babubali islands in the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary have began to hatch over the last two days, they said.

Wildlife officials stationed at the nesting grounds were witness to the phenomenon, but tourists and researchers were not allowed into the unmanned territory close to the Wheeler's island where a defence test range is located.

India's intermediate range nuclear-capable missile Agni III is likely to be test fired from there some time this week, defence sources said.

The one-km long beach, washed by the huge waves of the Bay of Bengal, is littered by the tiny turtles literally jostling for space. As soon as they emerged from the sandy nests, they wandered aimlessly around the beach for about an hour before making their way towards the sea. And on reaching the surf, they got washed into the sea, a wildlife official, on duty at Nasi-2, said over telephone.

But hardly one out of every 1,000 hatchlings survive its life cycle to grow into an adult as their mortality rate is very high.

"It's a rare visual treat as the tiny hatchlings, with their mothers no where in sight, generated a hissing noise thus creating a soothing cacophony," the official said.

No wildlife researcher could make it to the beach this time because of security reasons.

Within the first 24 hours an estimated three million hatchlings had emerged from the nests, officials said.

An estimated 1.6 lakh turtles had arrived on the beach to lay eggs, a phenomenon known as 'Aribada' in Spanish, between February 12 and 15 last.

The Aribada or mass nesting is also an unique phenomenon with the turtles invading the beach together where they dig pits on the sand with their flippers and lay eggs there. After spending about two hours on the sand, they leave for the sea. They, however, cover their nests with sand before leaving.

The eggs are incubated under natural process and the hatchlings emerge after about 45 to 55 days.

Wildlife researchers point out that the turtles might have chosen the Gahirmatha beach for their annual rendezvous as it was unmanned and tranquil, most congenial for mass nesting.

However, concerns are being expressed as some of these idyllic islands were undergoing sea erosion and getting split over the years, they say.