Rescue underway to save 270 whales stranded in AustraliaSeptember 22, 2020 - 11:25 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Rescuers were scrambling on Tuesday, September 22 to save 270 whales stranded off the coast of the Australian island of Tasmania, amid fears that about a third of the animals had already died, Al Jazeera. Scientists said the long-finned pilot whales became stuck on sandbars at Macquarie Harbour, on Tasmania's rugged and sparsely populated west coast, on Monday. Images from the scene showed shallow water thick with the large slick-black mammals manoeuvring for space. Nic Deka, manager of Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, said marine specialists and rescuers were trialling efforts to determine the best rescue methods. "We'll be trying to free some whales this morning and if we're met with the methods we've settled on, we'll keep doing that, if not, we'll adapt it and do different things to try and get a better result," Deka told reporters. Kris Carlyon, a wildlife biologist at the Marine Conservation Programme, said "about a third" of the animals were already dead and rescuing survivors would be a "challenging" task likely to take several days. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |