ruth901
Whale crime thriller off LübeckBaltic Sea humpback whale has freed itself – but it is apparently coming back
The whale that has been stuck on a sandbank for days is free!
On Friday morning (March 27th) the whale suddenly disappeared from the sandbank. After a short search, the emergency services discovered the marine mammal in the Bay of Lübeck, not far from the sandbank on which it was stranded. Boats are now trying to accompany him out to sea, but this is proving difficult – the whale has a mind of its own.
Boats accompany Wal out of the bay
As Stephanie Groß from the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research confirms, the whale swam along the sandbank again. Now he is being escorted out of the bay by boat so that he doesn't get stranded again: “The whale is already a long way out now”says the researcher in an RTL interview. She hopes the whale can be guided a little further. The boats follow the marine mammal; If he drifted too far in one direction, the emergency services would use a boat to push him back onto the right path with enough distance. However, the mammal doesn't make it that easy for the emergency services.
The destination is the North Sea – that turns out to be difficult
The current plan is to drive the whale towards the North Sea: “In fact, it was guaranteed that the police boats would escort the animal to Denmark,” says Groß. Even if it would be difficult at night. “At the moment it's looking very good. He's diving, he's swimming freely, so from the point of view it's positive.”
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Whale almost strands again
Shortly after the interview, however, the whale swims back into the Bay of Lübeck, close to the spot where it was previously stranded. Apparently the escort is proving difficult. Two boats from the Lübeck-Travemünde water police, with experts on board, are keeping an eye on the mammal and continuing to try to push it in the right direction. According to Christin Otto from Sea Shepherd, a total of around seven boats are involved in the rescue, and the whale is heading towards the open sea again: “So it looks pretty good now that he’s at least made it out of this bay.”
Reading tip: Marine biologist demands: Leave him alone!
Into the open sea at night
On Thursday evening (March 26th) it was almost successful, only a small piece was missing so that the whale could turn into the channel and swim into the open sea, but that didn't happen. Whale expert Robert Marc Lehmann, who is sometimes with the animal in diving equipment to calm it down, spoke to one of the excavator drivers yesterday: “If we’re lucky, he’ll be gone tomorrow,” remembers Lehmann – “we were lucky!” he added in an interview on Friday morning (March 27).
Video tip: Humpback whale on the sandbank
Lübeck Bay near Scharbeutz: An eyewitness suspects the humpback whale from Timmendorfer Strand in the photo.
Kyra von Eynern
Helpers tried for days to free the whale
The humpback whale was discovered on a sandbank on Monday morning (March 23). Attempts were made to free the animal for days. For example, on Tuesday (March 24th) a rescue attempt with a small suction excavator failed. Then on Thursday (March 27th), a channel was dug with a floating excavator. The marine mammal presumably swam away through this.
The whale was stuck for days (archive image)
IMAGO/Agency 54 Grad/Felix Koenig
Heavy equipment
Meter by meter the whale fought its way through this channel in the evening. A larger excavator was finally able to intervene from land after a dam was built to bring the heavy equipment within reach.
Reading tip: Rescue operation for stranded whale interrupted
The animal appeared more active than in the previous days. The helpers tried to animate it with noise in the evening – by honking, drumming or shouting. The animal itself also kept making loud humming noises. In the end, only a few meters were missing from deeper water in the eveningsaid the mayor of Timmendorfer Strand, Sven Partheil-Böhnke, when the action was canceled because of the darkness.
Sources used: own RTL research, dpa
