Nearly three hundred pilot whales were left fighting for their lives after getting stranded on a sandbar in Tasmania in the “trickiest” mass stranding ever recorded in the area.

The tragic incident occurred on Tasmania’s West Coast where a pod of some 270 whales beached on a sandbar and became stuck in the shallow water.

According to the reports, around 90 out of nearly three hundred stranded whales have already died as rescuers continue to struggle to save the half-submerged animals before it is too late.

“This morning’s phase will be critical in determining what is possible. Basically, we’ll take the animals with the best chance to start with and the ones that we are able to deal with,” Nic Deka of the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service explained.

“Some animals may be simply too big or in an unsuitable location.”

According to Deka, one-third of stranded whales already succumbed to their situation because the rescuers were unable to reach them by boat.

Currently, some sixty rescuers, including members of the wildlife service, are working tirelessly to save as many animals as possible. While the mission could take several days to complete, Deka believes that the surviving whales have good chances of surviving if the temperatures stay on the cooler side.

“In terms of mass strandings in Tasmania, this is the trickiest we’ve had to deal with,” Deka explained as he suggested that the pod might have strayed into the shallow waters in search of food.

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