UPDATED: Tuesday, Jan. 12, 16.25 p.m. IST: Around 36 whales have been rescued by fishermen, while 45 are dead.

Around 100 short finned pilot whales are stranded after they washed up on the shore of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu on Monday evening.

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The small whales were beached on a 16 km-stretch between Alanthai and Kallamozhi in Tuticorin district. While local fishermen and officials have been dragging the beached whales into the sea, many have been returning to the shore. According to reports, they appeared to be disoriented.

WATCH: Around 50 Small Fin Whales beached in Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu since last evening, number of them dead https://t.co/lyC7aMDZxv — ANI (@ANI_news) January 12, 2016

Officials were still trying to understanding why such a large number of whales reached the shore. The last major mass stranding in Tuticorin was reported in 1973, when around 147 short finned pilot whales were stranded. In 2012, around 41 whales died after being beached in the North Andaman Island in the Bay of Bengal, close to from Tamil Nadu's coast. Scientists were unable to find any unnatural cause of death.

Last June, the death of a large blue whale after washing up on a beach in India's western coast sparked off a discussion on the absence of a protocol in India for rescuing stranded marine mammals.