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WATCH: Beachgoers rescue whales stuck on Georgia beach

Dozens of beachgoers helped rescue as many as 40 beached whales on a Georgia beach Tuesday evening.
Beachgoers helped push more than 25 beached pilot whales back into the ocean in St. Simon, Georgia Tuesday. (Dixie V. McCoy/Facebook)

ST. SIMONS, Ga. (WTHR) - Dozens of beachgoers helped rescue as many as 40 beached whales on a Georgia beach Tuesday evening.

The whales came ashore on East Beach in St. Simon Island around 6 p.m. Dr. Quinton White, executive director of the Marine Science Research Institute at Jacksonville University, told First Coast News around 25 pilot whales beached themselves on the Georgia coast.

A woman who streamed the rescue live on her Facebook page said it appeared about 40 whales were in distress as witnesses hurried to save them. Dixie McCoy's video shows a crowd of people in swimwear in the water, trying to push the whales back into the water.

By the end of the 15-minute video, McCoy said it appeared that most of the whales had been pushed back into the water, but not necessarily out of danger. The whales were still swimming close to shore and at least one shark had been seen during the ordeal, which had reportedly bitten one of the whales.

White told First Coast News incidents like this one can end with whales dying.

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