article_snippet.sent: Rescuers were forced to abandon Rescuers efforts to save 149 dolphins that were stranded on a beach in Japan after working tirelessly all day to help the creatures.
article_snippet.sent: As darkness fell on a beach in Japan in Hokota, around 60 miles northeast of Tokyo, coastguards and officials called off the rescue operation after only managing to save three of the 149 melon-headed dolphins that had beached.
article_snippet.sent: The creatures are usually found deep in the sea but have mysteriously beached about 60 miles northeast of Tokyo.
article_snippet.sent: Scientists say Scientists are not sure how the 149 melon-headed dolphins that had beached ended up on the beach but believe Scientists might have got lost .
article_snippet.sent: The location of Hokota where the 149 melon-headed dolphins that had beached beached.
article_snippet.sent: The location of Hokota where the dolphins beached is now thought 150 creatures are on the beach .
article_snippet.sent: A Hokota city official said they had counted 149 dolphins, revising an earlier figure of 130.
article_snippet.sent: 150 creatures usually live in the deep ocean, but for an unexplained reason had become beached on the shore .
article_snippet.sent: The pod of dolphins was stretched out along a roughly six mile-long stretch of beach in Hokota, Ibaraki, where they were found by locals early on Friday morning.
article_snippet.sent: While the reason for the beaching was unclear, Tadasu Yamadao, a researcher at the National Museum of Nature and Science, said 149 dolphins might have got lost.
article_snippet.sent: A Hokota city official explained: 'Sonar waves the dolphins emit might have been absorbed in the shoals, which could cause 149 dolphins to lose 149 dolphins sense of direction.'
article_snippet.sent: Dolphins emit sonar waves, but researches say if these are absorbed these can lose these sense of direction .
highlights_snippet.sent: 146 helpless dolphins were 'dead or dying' as rescue operation called off .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: Scientists believe creatures ended up on shore after being disorientated .