More than 200 whales have been found stranded on a remote beach at the entrance to Macquarie Harbour on the west coast of Tasmania, Australia. Half of the pod, thought to be pilot whales, are believed to be still alive.

Experts were planning a rescue of the 230 whales discovered on Wednesday but the operation would be “complex” due to the location, Tasmania’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment said in a statement.

The stranding comes exactly two years after Australia’s worst whale stranding on record, which occurred in the same location. On 21 September 2020, 470 long-finned pilot whales were found beached on sandbars. A week-long rescue effort saved 111 whales, but authorities had to dispose of more than 350 carcasses.

Wildlife scientist Vanessa Pirotta told the BBC the similarities between the stranding and the last one – same species, same location, same time of year – are “unusual” and concerning.

But the reasons behind whale strandings remain a “mystery”, she says, as does why Tasmania sees so many of them.

But the “giant island” itself could just be a navigational hazard for animals that use echolocation, she says.

“You’re going from essentially open waters and then there’s land all of a sudden.”

The current stranding comes a day after a separate mass stranding in northern Tasmania where 14 young sperm whales were found dead on King Island, in the Bass Strait.

Rescuers Race To Save Around 230 Whales Stranded On Tasmanian Beach