Timmy, the whale stranded off Germany's coast, swims off and gets stuck...again

Published on 20/04/2026 - 19:47 GMT+2

Efforts to rescue a humpback whale stranded for weeks connected Germany's Baltic Sea seashore were analyzable connected Monday erstwhile the carnal unexpectedly swam distant but past appeared to person got stuck again.

The 13.5-metre whale and its conflict for endurance person captured the hearts of the German public, with immoderate of the property calling him "Timmy."

Rescuers had cleared soil distant from the spot wherever the whale had been stuck for astir 3 weeks disconnected the land of Poel, adjacent Wismar, and sent a tugboat to beryllium utilized successful the rescue effort.

The program was to assistance the whale from the seabed utilizing inflatable cushions and transport it with pontoons backmost to the North Sea oregon perchance arsenic acold arsenic the Atlantic Ocean.

However, the carnal swam escaped connected its ain connected Monday, earlier coming to a halt connected a antithetic sandbank nearby, said Till Backhaus, situation curate for the authorities of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

Rescuers spot the flight effort arsenic a motion that the whale is inactive comparatively steadfast and program to effort again, the Bild paper reported.

Backhaus, speaking astatine the scene, insisted the carnal this clip had not go afloat stranded and was alternatively "resting."

The carnal was archetypal spotted stuck connected a sandbank connected 23 March adjacent the metropolis of Lübeck earlier freeing itself and past becoming stuck again respective times.

On 1 April, determination officials said they were convinced that the severely injured and distressed carnal was going to dice and could nary longer beryllium saved.

But section authorities past week approved a last-ditch rescue effort projected by 2 entrepreneurs, 1 of whom founded the large electronics retail concatenation MediaMarkt.