Australian environmental authorities Thursday reported that 380 pilot whales stranded in Macquarie Bay died but 70 were rescued in time.
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The Tasmania Government's Marine Conservation Program (MCP) informed that rescue teams are concentrating on saving 20 cetaceans trapped in the sand that are still alive. With the support of volunteers, the teams fight to move the whales into deeper waters from areas near the coast of Macquarie Bay.
The first 270 pilot whales, which measure about 6.7 meters and weight 2.5 tons, were found earlier this week, while another 200 were found dead Wednesday.
"There is hope as long as they are alive and in the water. As time passes, however, they feel more exhausted and their survival chances diminish," Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service (TPWS) incident controller Nic Deka explained.
It is not the first time that several whales have been stranded on Tasmanian beaches, where the last massive incident occurred a decade ago when 197 whales were trapped.
Scientists have not yet been able to explain why whales sometimes stray from their routes and get stranded in shallow water.
In previous incidents, however, the scientific community considered the possibility that whales, which can travel in groups of a thousand, may reach the coast attracted by large ship' sonars. Other experts believe that they are social animals and if one of them makes a mistake and goes into shallow water, the rest follow him.