( CNN ) Rescuers on Saturday refloated 66 pilot whales stranded on a remote beach in New Zealand as a race to save their lives continued . Nearly 200 whales were beached Friday in Farewell Spit on New Zealand 's South Island . Scores got back in the water , only to return to land -- leaving more than 100 dead . 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 . The stranding of large sea mammals is nothing new to New Zealand , where the Department of Conservation responds to an average 85 such incidents a year . 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 Greg Botelho , Jethro Mullen and Mitra Mobasherat contributed to this report .
Pilot whales have been stranded on remote New Zealand beach since Friday . More than 100 have died .