Rescue underway to save 270 whales stranded in Australia

PanARMENIAN.Net - Rescuers were scrambling on Tuesday, September 22 to save 270 whales stranded off the coast of the Australian island of Tasmania, amid fears that about a third of the animals had already died, Al Jazeera.

Scientists said the long-finned pilot whales became stuck on sandbars at Macquarie Harbour, on Tasmania's rugged and sparsely populated west coast, on Monday.

Images from the scene showed shallow water thick with the large slick-black mammals manoeuvring for space.

Nic Deka, manager of Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, said marine specialists and rescuers were trialling efforts to determine the best rescue methods.

"We'll be trying to free some whales this morning and if we're met with the methods we've settled on, we'll keep doing that, if not, we'll adapt it and do different things to try and get a better result," Deka told reporters.

Kris Carlyon, a wildlife biologist at the Marine Conservation Programme, said "about a third" of the animals were already dead and rescuing survivors would be a "challenging" task likely to take several days.