Several pilot whales are seen stranded in the waters of a port in Linhai, East China's Zhejiang Province on July 6, 2021. Photo: Xinhua

Nine pilot whales were rescued after 12 of them were found stranded in the waters of a port in Linhai, East China's Zhejiang Province, on Tuesday morning. Another three died, local media reported.

Bodies of the three dead whales have been placed in frozen storage at a seafood company and will be used for scientific research, said information office of Linhai, according to The Paper on Wednesday.

Among nine pilot whales, two were sent to Taizhou Sea World. The other two were sent to Baishawan Park and the last five were sent to a nearby marine farm for temporary care.

The two whales temporarily raised in Baishawan Park have been diagnosed by experts to be in good physical condition and suitable for releasing. At 21:00 pm on Tuesday, the whales were released in the open sea with a depth of more than 15 meters under the escort of experts and fishery administration boats, reported the China’s Central Television.

Upon being informed at 8 am Tuesday that more than 10 "dolphins" were stranded on the beach of Beiyangba and needed emergency rescue, law enforcement officials from the local port and shipping and fishery administration started rescue efforts.

The "dolphins" turned out to be pilot whales, according to experts.

Zhejiang Daily reported that during the rescue efforts, some people dug water holes nearby on the shore to make water available for the whales to be relocated. Some covered the whales with wet towels, and constantly watered the whales to prevent water from evaporating. A sunscreen net was also set up to shelter the whales.

At 10 am, all 12 whales were moved from the water holes. Unfortunately, three of them died after being stranded for too long. The other nine are in a good condition, reported local media.

Staff members from the local aquarium also arrived at the scene for further rescue efforts.