Race to save 100 whales in Sri Lanka's biggest mass beaching

Navy joins forces with rescuers and volunteers in effort to push pilot whales back into ocean

Rescuers and volunteers were racing to save about 100 pilot whales stranded on Sri Lanka's western coast in the country's biggest mass beaching.

The short-finned pilot whales began beaching at Panadura, 15 miles (25km) south of Colombo, shortly before dusk. Within an hour their numbers swelled to about 100, a local police chief, Sanjaya Irasinghe, said.