pilot whales

After a pod of nearly 100 pilot whales beached themselves on Tuesday, more than 50 of them died overnight. Now officials say the remaining 47 will be euthanized.

The incident is reminiscent of one in September, in which some 200 pilot whales died after a pod stranded itself on the remote west coast of Tasmania, off Australia's southeastern coast.

Passengers of the Ambassador Cruise Line had just arrived in the Faroe Islands when a group of small boats drove the whales to shallow water for killing, part of a long-standing local tradition.