BERLIN (AP) — A whale that was stranded for days in shallow water at a Baltic Sea resort in Germany has swum free from a sandbank overnight after a last-ditch rescue effort. But it isn't out of danger yet.
An excavator spent Thursday digging an escape channel. The whale then swam through it overnight, marine biologist Robert Marc Lehmann said Friday, German news agency dpa reported.
But he cautioned that it was only a small step in the right direction for the marine mammal, which is 12-15 meters (39-49 feet) long, and that it will only really be at home again if it reaches the Atlantic Ocean.
The whale was spotted stuck on an underwater sandbank in Timmendorfer Strand, a popular resort town, on Monday morning. Initial efforts to free it and coax it back toward deeper water, including using coast guard and fire department boats to create large waves, were unsuccessful. The Baltic Sea lacks strong tides that could have freed the whale.
On Thursday morning, rescuers brought in excavators to dig a trench in front of the whale's head, while Lehmann approached the animal and guided the digging. They worked until well after sunset, but hadn't quite been able to get the whale out by the time they had to stop work for the night.
Early on Friday morning, the whale was on its way out of Lübeck Bay, where Timmendorfer Strand is located, said Stephanie Gross of the Institute of Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research. She said the massive mammal, which was about 300 meters (nearly 1,000 feet) off the coast, was being accompanied by a coast guard ship and several boats.
Experts assume that the whale is a young male, as males, unlike females, tend to migrate. It also appeared to be the same whale that was spotted several times in the port of Wismar, east of Timmendorfer Strand, in recent weeks.
It was not immediately clear why the whale was in the area and got stranded.
Humpback whales aren't native to the Baltic. This one faces a journey of several hundred kilometers (miles) through German and Danish waters if it is to reach the North Sea.
LATEST POSTS
- 1
A few Up-to-date Sacks - Stylish Young ladies Shouldn't Miss - 2Oil rises above $115 and Asia stocks slide as Iran war escalates
- 3What did the gov’t approve for Israel’s 2026 state budget?
- 4Police investigate Lahav 433 officer accused of sexually harassing subordinate policewoman
- 5The Job of a Land Legal counselor in Property Exchanges
- What's the new 'Knives Out' mystery about? Everything to know about 'Wake Up Dead Man,' including who's in the cast and what the reviews say.
- Fossils unearthed in Morocco are first from little-understood period of human evolution
- The Eastern Bongo, Kenya’s Rare Forest Antelope on the Brink
- NASA’s Pandora telescope will study stars in detail to learn about the exoplanets orbiting them
- Blake Lively's sexual harassment claims against Justin Baldoni dismissed. Where the case stands now.
- I visited every country by 25. Antarctica showed me how much I still hadn't seen.
- The Effect of Online Organizations on Society: Beating the Difficulties
- The most effective method to Pick the Right Material Organization: Your Definitive Aide
- New study measures titanium in Apollo rock to uncover Moon’s early chemistry
