Mass stranding leaves a ‘sad’ emotional scene

More than 100 pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins are dead after being stranded on the Chatham Islands.

Commercial diver and photographer Samwild said the whales were stranded at a northern beach on the main Chatham Island over the weekend.

He said it was a horrific and emotional scene.

Locals had put out word of the stranding the day before, he said.

‘‘I mean the Chatham Islands ... is a pretty remote place, their beaches are pretty remote, there’s not a lot of people around them so when they were eventually found the radio call went out to a few people, cause there’s so many divers around the island, myself included.’’

Wild said the diving community was told to stay out of the water when there had been a whale stranding because the Chatham Islands had a population of great white sharks