Six more stranded whales to be released in East China's Zhejiang

HANGZHOU - Six of the nine whales rescued after being stranded in coastal waters off East China's Zhejiang province are due to be released into the ocean on Wednesday night, according to experts.

Local police received a report at about 8:00 am Tuesday of 12 whales spotted hundreds of meters from the shore in the city of Linhai, Zhejiang.

Three of the melon-headed whales lost vital signs before the rescue team arrived, the city's publicity department said.

After nearly 10 hours of rescue work, the remaining nine whales were saved and transported to safe locations.

Two of those sent to a coastal park were diagnosed later by experts as being in good health. At 9 pm Tuesday, experts and fishery authorities released them into the ocean at a spot with a depth of 15 meters.

Six more of the animals will return to the ocean on Wednesday night, based on expert analysis of the test data and consideration of the rescue environment, said the experts with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences and Zhejiang provincial department of agriculture and rural affairs.

The remaining whale is currently in a poor condition and will continue to be observed and treated, the experts added.

According to Zhang Peijun with the CAS, cetacean stranding is a common phenomenon with complex and diverse causes, ranging from problems with the whales' own navigation systems to changes in the earth's environment. The reason for the stranding of the 12 whales is uncertain and further research is needed, Zhang said.