Nearly 200 Whales Stranded on New Zealand Beach

— -- Rescue workers are trying to save nearly 200 whales that were beached in New Zealand on Friday, though at least 24 of those have already died.

The pod of 198 pilot whales stranded themselves at Farewell Spit, an area that's known as a "deathtrap" for marine mammals, conservation officials told the AFP. If volunteers fail to re-float whales today, the workers have to wait 24 hours for another high tide.

"Re-floating stranded whales is a difficult and potentially dangerous job. ... Community group Project Jonah has 140 volunteers in the Golden Bay area who are trained to do this and we’re working alongside them," New Zealand Department of Conservation spokesman Andrew Lamason told the AFP.

While the whales are beached, they can suffer from dehydration and sunburn.

It's not clear why the whales beached themselves in a large group.