One woman suffered suspected fractured ribs after being pinned between a whale and rocks. A number of volunteers had to be rescued from the surf while trying to swim the whales beyond the breaking waves, according to Ian Klopper of the National Sea Rescue Institute.
Cape Town authorities mobilized the police, fire brigade, navy, lifeboat services, disaster management teams and expert divers as part of the rescue operation.About 35 whales that had stranded themselves on Kommetjie beach have been euthanized after efforts to rescue them failed.
Three whales had died by late afternoon as National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) volunteers and marine scientists battled to collect them across a wide section of beach and get them back to sea, using municipal front-end loaders. But as soon as they were returned to the surf, the whales, which measure between 4 and 6 metres in length, kept pointing their noses for shore, forcing marine scientists to take the painful decision to euthanize them with a gunshot to the head. "Many of them came back onto the beach again and washed up on the rocks," a spokesman for the NSRI, Craig Lambinon, told the German press Agency dpa.
Crowds of people had gathered on the beach to watch the rescuse efforts and many became emotional when the decision to euthanize the animals was made.
Nan Rice, head of the Dolphin Action and Protection group said "mass strandings are extremely stressful for whales and to save stranding whales is an extremely difficult task".
As we were walking away, we heard the shots - a sound that will stay with me for a long time.
Television footage of the scenes on the desolate beach was interspersed by the sound of gunshots. "One shot, one whale. Another shot, another whale," said the commentator.
The bulldozers brought in to push the whales out to sea were used to clear the carcasses from the seaweed-strewn sand.
Police desperately tried to clear the beach of dozens of families who had flocked to the shores in hope of a happy ending which turned nightmarish. There were also minor scuffles between officials and distraught volunteers trying to protect the whales.
Klopper said authorities were urging those who had young children there to seek trauma counseling.
"Despite many theories on why marine animals beach it has not been determined what caused these whales to beach today," he said.
The South African coast is renowned for its whale watching during the winter season, which is in progress. But mass beachings are rare.
