Over half a pod of Pilot whales stranded on Matarangi beach have been refloated.
The Pilot whales were stranded at the end of Matarangi sandspit in the Coromandel, according to the Department of Conservation (DoC). DoC reported there are four dead pilot whales and seven alive.
They include one dead calf and one calf, which is still alive.
An attempt to refloat the surviving whales was to be early on Saturday afternoon in the incoming tide around 2:30pm.
But DoC say the seven surviving pilot whales have been refloated.
However, the marine mammals have swum into the estuary.
Four boats are trying to herd the whales out to sea.
Roughly 1000 people banded together in attempts to save the whales.
Images sent to Newshub show beach-goers holding buckets of saltwater and pouring them on the marine mammals.
Locals attempted to save the whales by digging holes and filling them with saltwater.
Wet towels were also placed on the whales.
Rochelle Harris, a bach owner in Matarangi who visited the beach at 9am, said the whales looked like they had been stranded a good couple of hours before that.
She told Newshub, the community jumped straight into action.
"We rushed down, formed pools around the whales and started doing lines of buckets of waters."
The police, rural fire brigade members and harbourmaster were also on-site assisting with managing the event and the large number of people.
