Rescuers were forced to abandon their efforts to save 149 dolphins that were stranded on a beach in Japan after working tirelessly all day to help the creatures.

As darkness fell on the beach in Hokota, around 60 miles northeast of Tokyo, coastguards and officials called off the rescue operation after only managing to save three of the 149 melon-headed dolphins that had beached.

The rest of the animals had either died or were dying, they said.

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Rescuers managed to save three dolphins, but the remaining of the beached pod are 'dead or dying'

A volunteer pours water on a dolphin to stop its skin drying out. Others were being carried back to the ocean

Workers use a crane to remove one of the 146 melon-headed whales that died when beached in Hokota

'It was becoming dark and too dangerous to continue the rescue work at this beach, where we could not bring heavy equipment,' a Hokota city official said.

'Many people volunteered to rescue them but the dolphins became very, very weak.'

'Only three of them have been successfully returned to the sea, as far as we can confirm,' he added.

Volunteers from local communities had joined forces with coastguards to try and save the dolphins, pouring water on them to stop their skins drying out.

They also used slings to carry some back into the water, after they were seen early on Friday morning on the beach writhing in pain.

But despite desperate efforts to help the melon-headed whales, some were being pushed back onto the beach by the tide soon after being released.

The creatures are usually found deep in the sea but have mysteriously beached about 60 miles northeast of Tokyo.

Volunteers and residents living nearby used slings to carry the dolphins - but some were carried back to shore

Young children look at melon-headed whales beached on the shore of Hokota city, northeast of Tokyo. Scientists say they are not sure how the dolphins ended up on the beach but believe they might have got lost

The location of Hokota where the dolphins beached. It is now thought 150 creatures are on the beach in Japan

Television footage showed several animals had been badly cut, and many had deep gashes on their skin.

Speaking earlier today a coastguard official said they are aware a number of the sea creatures have died.

'We see one or two whales washing ashore a year, but this may be the first time we have found over 100 of them on a beach,. he added.

A Hokota city official said they had counted 149 dolphins, revising an earlier figure of 130. Three had been successfully returned to the sea by the late afternoon, he added.

Coastguards covered the dolphins in blankets and put them on a boat so they could be put back in the sea

The Japanese Coast Guard worked nonestop to save the melon-headed whales, part of the dolpin family

The creatures usually live in the deep ocean, but for an unexplained reason had become beached on the shore

Dozens of volunteers and local residents turned out to help coastguards with the dolphin rescue operation

The pod of dolphins was stretched out along a roughly six mile-long stretch of beach in Hokota, Ibaraki, where they were found by locals early on Friday morning.

While the reason for the beaching was unclear, Tadasu Yamadao, a researcher at the National Museum of Nature and Science, said the dolphins might have got lost.

He explained: 'Sonar waves the dolphins emit might have been absorbed in the shoals, which could cause them to lose their sense of direction.'

Melon-headed whales, also known as electra dolphins, are relatively common in Japanese waters and can grow to be two-to-three meters (six-to-nine feet) long.

Dolphins emit sonar waves, but researches say if these are absorbed they can lose their sense of direction

The rescue operation is in stark contract with Japan's stereotypical attitude towards whales, which are hunted

In 2011, about 50 melon-headed whales beached themselves in a similar area.

The dolphin rescue that took place on Friday was a stark contract to the Japan's reputation towards its sealife, as the country continues to hunt minke and pilot whales despite international criticism.

It has never made any secret of the fact that meat from the animals is consumed.

Japan also defies international opinion with the annual slaughter of hundreds of dolphins in a bay near the southern whaling town of Taiji.