Rescuers try to refloat a stranded humpback whale in Germany’s Baltic Sea

BERLIN (AP) — Rescue teams in northern Germany are working to refloat a humpback whale stranded in shallow water in the Baltic Sea.

Experts gathered Tuesday morning on the Timmendorfer Strand beach to find a way to pull the 10-meter-long (30-feet-long) mammal off the ground after the high tide around midnight was not sufficient for the animal to swim free under its own power, German news agency dpa reported.

Earlier rescue efforts on Monday afternoon with police boats, inflatable boats and the help of firefighter drones guiding the rescue efforts were also unsuccessful.

The animal is still alive, it breathes, makes sounds and occasionally lifts its head, Carsten Mannheimer of the marine conservation organization Sea Shepherd told dpa.

Experts assume that the whale is a young male, as males, unlike females, tend to migrate. It also seems to be the same whale that has been spotted several times in the port of Wismar in eastern Germany in recent weeks.