Australia counts record 470 stranded whales as rescue continues

A whale lies on the beach as the rescue efforts take place at Macquarie Harbour in Tasmania, Australia September 22, 2020 in this picture obtained from social media. Bilal Rashid via REUTERS

Rescuers were racing against the tide on Wednesday to free whales beached off the Australian coast, with more than half the estimated 470 mammals in the country’s biggest stranding on record already believed dead.

The pod of long-finned pilot whales was first spotted on a wide sandbank during an aerial reconnaissance of remote and rugged Macquarie Harbour in Tasmania state on Monday, launching a difficult rescue operation.