Just 12 of the whales were alive when first responders reached the scene. BDMLR BDMLR

A MASS STRANDING of 77 pilot whales has resulted in all of the animal’s deaths off the coast of Sanday, in Orkney, Scotland.

Marine wildlife experts and the British Divers and Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) were attempting to save 12 of the stranded whales, but all were euthanased this evening due to their conditions deteriorating.

The shock discovery was made at around 10.30am today. A BDMLR team were mobilised while a small number of medics made their way to the scene.

It is believed that the 77 animals could’ve been stranded for hours before the first sighting. Just 12 of the short-finned pilot whales, commonly found off the coast of Ireland and Great Britain, were still alive by the time first responders arrived.

There is currently no known reason why the mass-stranding event happened.

“Pilot whales are incredibly sociable and so its possible that one of them stranded and the rest followed. It’s the largest one in a long time,” Molly Brown, who works for BDMLR, said.

“We did have a mass stranding of 55 around this time last year on the Isle of Lewis,” she added.

The Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme will attempt to recover as many bodies as possible for post-mortem sampling and examination to try to determine the circumstances of stranding, BDMLR said.

“We would like to thank all of our volunteer Marine Mammal Medics who attended this incident along with members of the local community for their efforts in these distressing circumstances,” they added.

Includes reporting by Press Association