Whale swims to freedom after days stranded on German beach

Rescuers managed to free a humpback whale that had been stuck on a sand bank on Germany's Baltic coast on Friday.

The whale had been stranded for several days on the Timmendorfer Strand, with numerous rescue attempts failing to shift the marine mammal.

The 12 to 15-meter long (39 to 49-foot long) animal must now make its way along the complicated route past the Danish islands, out into the North Sea and then finally into the Atlantic Ocean.

Humpback whales are not native to the Baltic and experts suspect the whale in question was a young male as they, unlike females, migrate.

How did the whale free itself from the German beach?

The animal was first noticed on Monday, but the first attempt to free it was unsuccessful.

Efforts on Thursday to dig a channel with heavy machinery finally worked and the whale was able to return to the sea overnight.

The work was slow, with rescuers aiming to get the animal used to the noise of the machinery so as not to shock it.

By Thursday evening, the whale, which had been showing more signs of life, began to slowly make its way through the channel.

The team of rescuers tried to encourage the animal to keep going with lots of noise, to which the whale reportedly responded with its own humming noise.

Marine biologist Robert Marc Lehmann told local media that the humpback had "gathered its strength" overnight and "freed itself by its own efforts."

On Friday morning, German media reported that the whale had been spotted swimming out in the Bay of Lübeck, to the south of Denmark.

Accompanied by a small armada of police, coast guard, volunteer and research vessels, the whale is now making its way to the open waters of the North Sea. 

Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko