A rescue operation has been launched to save around 60 pilot whales which have become stranded in a sea loch in the Highlands.

The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, which has sent a team to the area near the Kyle of Durness, said there is a chance that the pod is the same one that became stranded in the Outer Hebrides in May, leaving two whales dead.

The coastguard was alerted late on Friday morning to say that a pod of whales appeared to be in difficulty on the remote coastline.

Aberdeen coastguard said it had two teams on site, with a third on its way. A spokesman said: "We got a call at about 11.45am from a member of one of our coastguard teams up there. At first it was thought there were 40 minke whales but now it is thought there is up to 60 long-finned pilot whales. They are stuck in rock-pools and the tide is receding."

British Divers Marine Life Rescue is also en route to the scene. The BDMLR said it had received reports of 15 pilot whales trapped in rock pools. "We are scrambling as many people there as possible," a spokesman said.

Danny Groves of the conservation society said the pod could be the same one involved in a stranding near South Uist in May. In that incident, 60 of the mammals swam into a narrow and rocky sea loch on the island's coast prompting fears that dozens could be killed in a mass beaching. Two were found dead as the pod eventually left Loch Carnan, on the north-east corner of South Uist.

At the time, officials in Ireland were warned to watch out for a mass stranding on their shores. Last year, 35 pilot whales that appeared to be in danger of beaching in Loch Carnan left South Uist intact but less than a week later, 33 of the pod were found dead on a deserted island off County Donegal.

"It could well be (the same pod)," said Groves. "That's the group mentality. The last time, back in May, we thought one or two may have been injured. They operate in a very social group. Rather than leave, the others would come in and follow the injured."

Groves said other possible reasons for stranding behaviour could be noise pollution from sonar or drilling. Until a whale died and a post-mortem was carried out, it was difficult to say what the cause might be.