AP —
A whale stranded in shallow water for days in a German Baltic Sea resort has swam up from a sandbank overnight after a last-ditch rescue effort. However, the situation is not out of danger yet.
Excavators spent Thursday digging the evacuation channel. The whale then swam around throughout the night, marine biologist Robert Marc Lehmann said on Friday, German news agency dpa reported.
30-foot-long humpback whale stranded
A humpback whale is stranded in shallow water off the coast of northern Germany. The whale is still alive and breathing, but rescue efforts have been unsuccessful, according to the Associated Press.
But he warned that this was only a small step in the right direction for the 12-15 meter (39-49 ft) long marine mammal, which would only be able to live again once it reached the Atlantic Ocean.
The whale was found stuck on an underwater sandbar in the popular resort town of Timmendorfer Strand on Monday morning. Initial attempts to free it and return it to deep water failed, including using Coast Guard and fire department boats to create large waves. There are no strong currents in the Baltic Sea that could have freed the whale.
On Thursday morning, rescuers brought in an excavator to dig a trench in front of the whale’s head, while Lehman approached the whale and guided the excavation. They continued working until after sunset, but were unable to retrieve the whale before they had to call off their efforts for the night.
Stephanie Gross of the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research said the whale was on its way out of Lübeck Bay, where Timmendorfer Strand is located, early Friday morning. She said the giant mammal was about 300 meters (about 1,000 feet) from shore and was accompanied by a Coast Guard vessel and several boats.
Experts believe the whale is a young male, as males tend to migrate differently than females. It also appears to be the same whale that has been sighted 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 became stranded.
Humpback whales are not native to the Baltic Sea. To reach the North Sea, it must pass hundreds of kilometers through German and Danish waters.
