Rescuers race to save stranded whales

Rescuers were trying to save scores of pilot whales on Friday in a remote bay in New Zealand, where about 300 carcasses littered the beach after one of the country's largest recorded mass whale strandings.

Hundreds of volunteers flocked to Golden Bay, at the northwest tip of South Island, after dawn broke, and surviving whales were refloated at high tide by lunchtime, but 90 quickly became stranded once again as the tide ebbed. About 50 more lingered in shallow waters near their beleaguered pod.

A Conservation Department worker spotted the whales washed ashore on Thursday evening. But the government agency decided against a night rescue effort because of the risk of accidents.