BERLIN: A humpback whale stranded on a sandbank off Germany’s Baltic coast has freed itself and was heading back out to sea on Sunday but was still at risk, authorities said.
The 13.5-meter (44-foot) long mammal spent six days struggling on sandbanks in Lubeck bay and vets had feared for its health as the ordeal went on.
It freed itself from a first sandbank on Friday, after a mechanical digger set up an escape route, but became trapped again on another.
Rising waters in the bay helped the whale a second time and it started swimming away late on Saturday, a regional government spokesman told German media.
A German maritime police vessel is tracking the whale as it could become trapped again in the bay’s shallow waters, the spokesman added.
