Humpback Whale's Escape, Journey Back to Atlantic

0:00It's March 28th. This is Europe News Today, powered by AI, your European briefing. I'm Cory with the story. A humpback whale, measuring 12 to 15 meters long, got freed from shallow waters off a German Baltic Sea beach at Timindor for Strand after. Days of being stuck. But just when folks thought it was in the clear, it's stranded again on Saturday near the town of Wismar, further east in Mecklenburg, Pomerania. Warris pulled out all the stops earlier this week, first trying boats from the Coast Guard and fire department to push waves and guide it deeper. When that flopped, they brought in an excavator on Thursday to carve out an escape channel through the sandbank. The whale finally powered through early Friday morning. Germans were hooked on the whole saga, with news outlets blasting alerts and live streams drawing huge crowds to the beach. It turned into a national spectacle, everyone rooting for this massive visitor from the Atlantic. Now experts are scratching their heads on why it wandered into the Baltic, maybe chasing

1:02the school of herring or just a male on the move. But the sea there is trouble, low salt levels, a skin disease already showing, and no real food source for a humpback. To make it, this whale has to navigate hundreds of miles back through German and Danish waters to the Atlantic. Officials are watching close, but no word yet on the next rescue play. Stay tuned as this ocean drama unfolds.