Rescuers in Germany have successfully coaxed a stranded humpback whale onto a barge, aiming to transport it from the Baltic Sea to safer waters in the North Sea. The young male whale, nicknamed 'Timmy' after the nearby Timmendorfer Strand, had been stranded on a sandbank for over a month near Lübeck.
Cheers erupted on Tuesday as the whale swam into the barge through a channel dug in the seabed. The operation, funded by two multi-millionaires, has drawn intense media attention and hundreds of onlookers. One diver involved, Fred Babbel, was moved to tears, telling Bild: 'I see it through to the end and look for a solution.'
The next stage involves a tugboat pulling the barge to the North Sea, where the whale will be released if deemed healthy enough. It has been fitted with a tracker to monitor its movements. Till Backhaus, environment minister for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, expressed hope for a 'happy end', adding: 'I saw for myself how contented he feels in the barge.'
The whale, weighing about 12 tonnes and measuring 10 metres, has become a cause célèbre in Germany. It was identified as sick and fatigued, with skin blemishes treated with zinc ointment. Local firefighters used hoses to keep it hydrated. The rescue has been controversial, with some experts arguing the whale is too ill to survive, but authorities allowed the private rescue plan to proceed.
