Story highlights

198 pilot whales stranded on Farewell Spit on New Zealand's South Island

People managed to refloat some of the whales, but they came back to land

The race is on to save 60 surviving whales by getting them back in the water

CNN  — 

Rescuers on Saturday refloated 66 pilot whales stranded on a remote beach in New Zealand as a race to save their lives continued.

They are among the 198 pilot whales that got stuck Friday on Farewell Spit, a thin claw of land that reaches out into the sea from the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island. The spit forms the top of Golden Bay, an area where whales get stranded frequently because of its protruding coastline, gently sloping beaches and system of currents.

When the incident started, 140 conservationists and experts rushed to water down the giant mammals, cover them and try to refloat them back into the water.

“Refloating stranded whales is a difficult and potentially dangerous job,” said Andrew Lamason, the department’s services manager for Golden Bay.

Thankfully, workers on the scene until about 8 p.m. Friday (2 a.m. ET) were successful in getting the whales back into the open water – albeit not before at least 24 whales had already died.

But it didn’t last.

According to the Pacific island nation’s Department of Conservation, “Unfortunately, the whales restranded, this time closer to the base of Farewell Spit.

That spurred government staff, the trained volunteers and members of the public to head to this beach early Saturday. As of 11:30 a.m. (7:30 p.m. ET Friday), 103 whales were confirmed dead.

“People are working with about 60 living whales,” the New Zealand agency said then on its website. “… It is very cold and windy at the site.”

But if the efforts are unsuccessful, help may be needed Saturday to keep the whales cool and wet until the next high tide, authorities said.

But most of the time, it’s just one or two whales or dolphins. Mass strandings are rare, especially on the scale of what’s happening around Golden Bay.

CNN’s Jethro Mullen and Mitra Mobasherat contributed to this report.