A humpback whale that was stranded in shallow water off the north German coast has been set free by rescuers.
The whale had been stranded for several days on the Timmendorfer Strand, a popular resort town on the Baltic Sea coastline, with several rescue attempts made amid fears the marine mammal was going to die.
The 39 to 49ft-long whale was spotted on Monday, but the first attempt to free it was unsuccessful.
Experts gathered on Tuesday morning on the beach to find a way to get the whale off the ground, German news agency dpa reported.
Sven Biertumpfel, of the Sea Shepherd marine conservation group, told Sky News the Baltic Sea is not a humpback’s natural habitat, adding “maybe he followed some fish or some food”.
The whale, which weighs several tonnes, got entangled in nets, the conservationist said.
Rescuers initially managed to turn the whale so its head was pointing towards deeper water. But the animal then turned back to its previous position.
Boats from the coastguard and the fire department created large waves in the hope of freeing the animal – but it remained stuck, German public broadcaster NDR reported.
The whale could not actively be pulled back into deeper water because it could have been seriously injured in the process, experts said.
Attempts on Thursday to dig a channel with heavy machinery were finally successful, and the whale was able to swim out into the sea overnight.
It was slow work, with rescuers trying to get the animal used to the noise of the machinery so as not to upset it.
By Thursday evening, the whale, which had been getting closer to its normal state, started to make its way slowly through the channel.
The rescue team tried to encourage it to keep going with lots of noise, with the animal reportedly responding with a humming sound.
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Early on Friday morning, the whale was on its way out of Lubeck Bay, one researcher said.
Stephanie Gross, of the Institute of Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research, said the mammal, which was nearly 1,000 feet off the coast, was being accompanied by a coastguard ship and several other vessels.
The whale must now make its way on a complex route past the Danish islands, out into the North Sea, before finally passing into the Atlantic Ocean.
