28 whales, 3 dolphins euthanized after mass stranding in New Zealand

Officials say the power outage and remote location of New Zealand's far eastern islands, about 500 miles east of the country's South Island, means that Defense Rangers did not reach the West Coast until 3 p.m.

The officials revealed that most of the dolphins were stranded during the weekends, but the distant location of the island has thwarted the rescue attempts.

The whales were found stranded on Sunday.

Two more whales were stranded on Monday and had to be euthanized, the Department of Defense said, leaving the departments to decompose naturally.

Jemma Welch, a biodiversity ranger that works for the Department of Conservation of New Zealand, released a statement about the incident.

In total, per the New Zealand Department of Conservation, 97 pilot whales and three dolphins died due to the stranding.

Pilot whales grow up to six metres (20 feet) long and are the most common species of whale in New Zealand waters. The latest beaching is on Chatham Island.

One hundred marine mammals have died after a mass stranding on remote beaches in New Zealand. Marine biologists, however, are uncertain about the reason behind this behaviour.

"The majority of them appearing very weak, and were euthanised due to the rough sea conditions and nearly certainty of there being Great White Sharks in the water which are brought in by a stranding like this", she said in a statement.

It comes two months after one of the world's largest recorded mass strandings, which left at least 380 whales dead on beach in Tasmania, Australia.