Some 140 pilot whales that became stranded on a New Zealand beach have died, conservation officials have revealed.
The whales beached themselves on Friday at Farewell Spit on the northern tip of the South Island.
Teams of rescuers raced to re-float the mammals on the evening high tide, but the whales swam aground again overnight after they were escorted out to deeper water.
A second attempt to re-float around 60 remaining whales will be made at high tide later on Saturday, but if that fails they may have to be euthanised.
The area is described as a whale trap because its shallow waters seem to confuse the animals and reduce their ability to navigate.
Andrew Lamason, from the Department of Conservation (DOC), said: "We're preparing ourselves for a pretty bad outcome, each time they re-strand their health goes down quite dramatically."
He added "a lot of" young whales were among the dead.
"It's been quite an emotional time for our staff," he said. "The whales also go through a lot of physical and emotional trauma."
Farewell Spit, around 95 miles west of Nelson, has been the scene of mass pilot whale strandings in the past.
There have been at least eight in the past 10 years, although this one is one of the largest.
Mr Lamason said: "It's highly likely it's the geography, potentially they're coming in here hunting for fish and becoming disorientated and dying.
"It could be that some of the pods are sick and that brings them up on to the beach, we don't really know."
Pilot whales grow up to six metres (20ft) long and are the most common species of whale in New Zealand waters.
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