A pod of long-finned pilot whales have restranded at a Farewell Spit site after being successfully refloated on Monday evening.
Department of Conservation spokeswoman Trish Grant says 28 of the whales were still alive and 15 dead - some of which were among those that died yesterday.
Around 65 staff trained medics, volunteers, DOC staff and members of Project Jonah successfully re-floated 38 of the 49 whales at the evening high tide on Monday. 11 whales had died.
Trish says the whales were still milling around in the sea and hadn’t swum off when rescuers left as it was getting dark.
"DOC rangers and about 50 volunteers, including from Project Jonah, searched from first light to see if the whales had re-stranded and found them about 7am," she says.
Staff, volunteers and marine mammal medics were this morning working with the whales in the sea to bring them together and release them as a pod with the high tide.
Trish says with the high tide at 8am, the water was deep enough to begin working to bring them together and move them into deeper water for release.
Workers are still with the whales in the water.
Trish says in previous pilot whale strandings on Farewell Spit, pods have often re-stranded after being re-floated.
