Overview
- The stranded humpback, which moved through a trench dug Thursday, swam off the sandbank early Friday and into deeper water.
- Rescue teams spent days using non‑invasive tactics that included boats creating waves, a suction dredger, and finally excavators that cut a channel through the sandbank.
- The whale had been tangled in fishing gear, with most of the netting removed, yet specialists report it is weak, shows skin problems, and could strand again.
- German coastguard and Schleswig‑Holstein water police vessels are escorting the animal out of Lübeck Bay toward the Danish straits and the North Sea.
- Humpbacks rarely enter the Baltic, where low salinity can damage skin and the lack of strong tides hinders refloating, so reaching the Atlantic will test the whale’s navigation and strength.