Nine of 58 beached whales saved in New Zealand

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Crews with bulldozers buried 49 pilot whales in sand dunes on an isolated northern New Zealand beach today after rescuers managed to save only nine from a group that was stranded on the beach for two days.

Indigenous Maori elders chanted prayers over the carcasses before bulldozers stripped open a trench above the waterline to bury the mammals, which died despite efforts by more than 200 rescuers.

The rescuers refloated 13 of the beached whales Saturday after a mass stranding of 58 of them on remote Karikari Beach. Four of the 13 survivors later were euthanized after they beached again, bringing the overall death toll to 49.

The survivors had headed out to sea Saturday afternoon and were monitored to ensure they did not return to the beach, Conservation Department spokeswoman Carolyn Smith said. But within an hour four of them became stranded again, Smith said.

Rescuers spent two hours trying to help them, but as darkness fell officials decided to kill the distressed whales to prevent the nine survivors from being lured back by their distress calls.

The remaining nine were later observed swimming strongly and steadily back out to sea.