FALMOUTH (USA), July 29: Marine experts and volunteers were trying desperately on Monday to refloat more than 50 pilot whales which beached themselves off the Massachusetts coast.

The whales found themselves stranded on Chapin Beach in shallow water off Cape Cod on Monday morning and rescuers were doing their best to keep the mammals cool and wet, hoping that high tide would take them back into the ocean.

Teri Frady, spokesperson for the local field office of the National Marine Fisheries Service, said it was the largest mass stranding of whales since the mid-1980s.

“Our main task is to keep them watered and protected from sunburn and heatstroke,” Frady said.

Marine biologists and members of the Cape Cod Stranding Network placed wet towels over the whales and used buckets to pour water over their bodies.

Group beachings of pilot whales, which normally travel in large schools, are relatively common in the Cape Cod, although not in such large numbers.

Scientists are divided as to why the beachings occur, with some citing particular weather conditions and others the outcome of the whales chasing food in shallow waters.

“The problem is that after beaching they don’t have a very high survival rate,” Frady said.

“They remain disoriented and often stay in the shallow water where they eventually drown or die of exposure. In this case, the sheer numbers make it a dicey matter to refloat them all.

The whales stranded on Chapin Beach included mature adults up to 5.5 metres in length.—AFP