Sri Lanka's navy and volunteers rescued 120 pilot whales stranded within the country's biggest mass beaching, but a minimum of two injured animals was found dead, officials said.
Sailors from the navy and therefore the coastguard together with local volunteers pushed back a minimum of 120 whales by dawn Tuesday after a gruelling overnight rescue, navy spokesman Indika de Silva said.
The school of short-finned pilot whales washed ashore at Panadura, 25 kilometres (15 miles) south of Colombo, since Monday afternoon within the biggest-ever mass stranding of whales on the island.
"We used our small inshore patrol craft to drag the whales one by one into deeper waters," de Silva told AFP.
"Sadly, two whales have died of the injuries sustained once they beached."
Local authorities were braced for mass deaths as seen in Tasmania in September when about 470 pilot whales were stranded and only about 110 of them may well be saved after days of rescue efforts.
Sri Lanka's Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) confirmed that Panadura saw the biggest single pod of whales stranded within the South country.
"It is extremely unusual for such an oversized number to succeed in our shores," MEPA chief Dharshani Lahandapura told AFP, adding that the explanation for the stranding wasn't known.
"We think this is often almost like the mass stranding in Tasmania in September."
Pilot whales - which may develop to 6 metres (20 feet) long and weigh a tonne - are highly social.
The causes of mass strandings remain unknown despite scientists studying the phenomenon for many years.
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