Sri Lanka's navy said on Tuesday more than 100 whales had been rescued after becoming stranded on a beach on the island's southwest coast a day earlier.
Villagers defied a novel coronavirus curfew to join the navy, wading into the breaking surf to push the small whales back into the sea at Panadura, south of the capital, Colombo.
"We pushed back all of them last night, about 100 to 120 whales," navy spokesman Captain Indika de Silva told Reuters.
Four of the whales died during the rescue operation, he added.
"I was fishing when I saw a dark patch and about 100 came ashore," said fisherman Upul Ranjith. "We've pushed as many as we can back to sea."
"I don't know why this has happened. It's never happened before. This is the first time I've seen it," he added.
The phenomenon of whales getting stranded in shallow water remains largely a mystery to scientists.
In September, several hundred whales died in shallows off the coast of Australia in its biggest stranding on record and one of the largest in the world.
US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that India and Pakistan had agreed to a "full and immediate ceasefire" after a fourth day of strikes and counter-strikes against each other's military installations.
The Group of Seven (G7) major countries on Friday urged India and Pakistan to engage in direct dialogue as hostilities rise between the nuclear-armed neighbours, while the US government said it has offered assistance in starting "constructive talks".
An order was lifted on Saturday to confine around 160,000 people in Spain's northeastern Catalonia region after a fire at an industrial estate caused a toxic cloud of chlorine over a wide area, the regional government said.
A facility that guides air traffic in and out of Newark airport suffered a new 90-second communications outage early on Friday, the second in two weeks that prompted an air traffic controller to complain "Scopes just went black again" to a nearby FedEx flight.
The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Poland met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for talks in Kyiv on Saturday in a show of unity a day after Russia's Vladimir Putin hosted his allies at a Victory Day parade in Red Square.
Sudanese nationals in the UAE will be exempt from paying outstanding residency or visa fines under a move by the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs & Port Security (ICP) to help them regularise their stay.
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, has welcomed the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, expressing hope that it contributes to enhancing security and stability in the region.
The UAE has outlined its "sincere efforts" over the last two years to seek a civilian-led political solution in Sudan that protects innocents from "tragedy and humanitarian suffering".