Even before the successful release: The helpers sprayed the whale with fresh water. Now the animal has to get out of the Baltic Sea and into the open sea.Image: keystone
After being freed from a sandbank, the humpback whale disappeared into the Baltic Sea. Two boats begin the search for the marine mammal. Because the whale has not yet been finally saved.
Mar 28, 2026, 9:31 a.mMar 28, 2026, 9:31 a.m
Since the observation of the humpback whale, which was freed from a sandbank off Timmendorfer Strand, was canceled on Friday, no new sightings have been reported. According to a spokesman for the Wismar water police, the search will begin on Saturday morning. The animal is probably traveling in the western Baltic Sea.
Nothing is known to the colleagues in Travemünde with whom we are in contact. A spokeswoman for the marine conservation organization Sea Shepherd also said: “We are waiting for sightings from the public.” There has been no news since Friday afternoon.
Two boats go in search of the whale
According to the spokesman for the water police, the boat “Uecker” will soon be leaving to search between the Schleswig-Holstein state border to the island of Poel in the Bay of Wismar. Another boat should look for the marine mammal as part of the patrol activity between the Warnemünde and Kühlungsborn sea areas.
After days of efforts by numerous helpers, the animal swam free from a sandbank off Timmendorfer Strand through a channel dug out by an excavator on Friday night. But experts are still worried about the marine mammal after it recently swam near the coast.
Whale has to find its way out of the Baltic Sea into the open sea
Because the animal is far from safe: in order for the humpback whale to be truly saved, it still has to find its way into the open sea. To do this, he still has to cover more than 1,000 kilometers.
The whale has to find its way between the Danish islands through either the Little or Great Belt or swim through the Öresund between Zealand and mainland Sweden to leave the Baltic Sea.
Sources used:
- Material from the dpa news agency
(hkl)