380 whales dead and 50 rescued as crews battle to rescue stranded giants

It is a battle against the clock for rescue crews in Tasmania, as they are attempting to save as many pilot whales as possible after a large group beached on the island's west coast.

As reported by ABC News, rescuers have stated that they have been able to save 50 pilot whales after they became stranded. However, 380 of the ocean giants have died.

Per the latest reports, thirty remain beached and battling for life.

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State authorities have claimed that this is the largest number of beached whales Tasmania has ever seen.

On Monday, approximately 270 whales were discovered in Macquarie Harbour, with another 200 being discovered this morning roughly 10km away, BBC News states.

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Parks and Wildlife regional manager Nic Deka has said they were found during an aerial observation as crews calculated how many of the giants were still alive.

Deka told ABC News: "Certainly from the air they didn't look to be in a condition that would warrant rescue, most of them appeared to be dead, but we'll wait on advice from the ground crew before we make a final call on what we do.

"If they can be saved we probably will send crews over there to do that."

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He added that the reason this new pod wasn't spotted earlier was because of the distance from the other site and the "very dark tannin" colour of the water.

After rescuing around 25 of the original group, Deka revealed that a small number of them re-beached themselves.

And despite more whales dying overnight, Deka says rescue teams are determined to save those still alive.

"There are still a significant number that are alive," he said. "So we'll continue to work with those."

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Wildlife biologist Kris Carlyon has said that euthanasia could be considered as more time starts to pass - but for now, they are focusing on rescue.

"We're not at a stage where we're considering euthanasia at this stage," Carlyon said.

"The animals that are still alive, we think we do have a chance with those given that they're wet, they're cool at this stage and we're pushing ahead with rescue."

Deka added that crews have a limited time window before their rescue mission becomes a "retrieval and disposal effort".

According to the BBC, Tasmania's previous largest stranding was back in 1935 when 294 pilot whales washed up on shore.

The state's last mass stranding took place in 2009 and involved about 200 pilot whales.

According to uk.whales.org, pilot whales can grow between 18ft 7"- 21ft 9" in length, depending on their sex, with males being larger.

Fully grown pilot whales can also weight anywhere between 2860lbs - 5070lbs.

James Tucker from the Marine Science Centre at Southern Cross University in New South Wales told ABC News: "It's going to be a huge operation with that many animals."

For the whales that have died, Tucker said there were four main options for dealing with the carcasses: dragging them out to sea, burying them, leaving them to decompose, or disposing of them at a waste management facility.

Tucker added that leaving this many carcasses in the sea could also "increase the risk of their being an interaction between a human being in the water and a shark".