The deaths of 22 whales who restranded themselves near Whakatane has been "gut-wrenching" for one of the men who helped originally save them.
Nathan Pettigrew, of Tauranga, said the experience of helping refloat the pod of long fin pilot whales was emotional and incredible.
To learn they had become stranded again yesterday was heartbreaking, he said.
"I would have loved to have given it one more really good go. Basically, I was ready to drive down there first thing this morning, I still have my kayak and gear in the car," he said.
Then Mr Pettigrew received a text from a friend, telling him the whales were dead.
"I was sort of quietly optimistic because whales restrand themselves quite often [and these ones hadn't so far]. I just died when I found out this morning.
"It's really sad. It's really, really gut-wrenching but, for me, it's just a matter of moving forward."
Six of the whales had died overnight, another eight whales died early yesterday morning and the decision was made to euthanise the remaining eight whales stranded on the beach about 8.30am.
More than 60 whales were involved in the stranding incidents which began on Tuesday afternoon.
Mr Pettigrew said he wanted to become more involved in whale rescue and hoped more people would volunteer with the courses that were on offer.
He said the collective rescue efforts of Whale Rescue New Zealand, Project Jonah and Department of Conservation had been flawless on Wednesday, despite yesterday's developments.
Incident controller Jono Maxwell said the decision to euthanise was made based on the welfare of the animals, the developing weather conditions and the available options for refloating the whales.
- additional reporting Rotorua Daily Post