After five days of intensive rescue operations, the humpback whale stranded off Niendorf has left the sandbank. The animal was spotted further out in the bay, according to Stephanie Groß from the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research (ITAW). On Friday morning, photographers and journalists searched in vain for the whale on the beach - it was no longer visible.
"Not yet safe"
Now it is important that the 12 to 15 metre long marine mammal stays in open water and swims into the North Sea if possible, Lehmann told the German Press Agency (dpa). The day before, he had snorkelled to the animal and tried to lead it through the channel. Lehmann emphasised that the whale was not yet safe. His rescue from the sandbank is not yet its salvation, but only a small step in the right direction.
"The feeling is one of cautious euphoria. The whale is not in a good state of health," Lehmann told reporters on Friday morning. He is only at home in the Atlantic. "Maybe we'll find it again and maybe we'll never see it again. Or maybe he'll be dead on the beach a month later."
The Baltic Sea is not a natural habitat for humpback whales. The salt content in the water is too low and can damage the animals' skin. In addition, there is not enough food for the sea giants. Even after being freed from the sandbank, the weakened animal's chances of survival remain slim - unless it finds its way back into the North Sea and eventually into the Atlantic.
The all-clear can only be given if the animal does not appear on another Baltic Sea beach in the coming weeks.
Dramatic Thursday: Excavators dug a channel into the sea
On Thursday, emergency crews worked into the darkness and under floodlights to rescue the humpback whale. But even then, the operation had to be brought to an unsuccessful end. There had been moments of hope in the evening: The animal was at least able to change its position a little.
Dredgers had been working for hours, from the water and from land. A floating dredger dug out a channel. Another dredger created a dam from the beach to get closer to the animal. In the meantime, up to five dredgers were working to free the large whale. The goal: to dig a channel around 50 metres long, six metres wide and 1.20 metres deep in front of the whale's head, through which the animal could get into deeper water.
According to the experts on site other measures to free the animal out of the question.
Marine biologist in the water next to the whale
ZDF broadcast a live stream of the work and the rescue operation. Most of the time, biologist Lehmann was in the water in a diving suit to calm the large whale and give instructions to the dredging team. The footage occasionally showed the dredging bucket coming very close to the animal's head.
He realises that the whale trusts him, Lehmann told the Lübecker Nachrichten newspaper. "It is very calm when I am with it." The whale has the will to survive: "It wants to take off."
In the evening, the helpers also tried to stimulate the animal with noise - by honking, drumming or shouting. The animal itself also kept humming loudly. In the end, there were only a few metres to go before it reached deeper water, said the mayor of Timmendorfer Strand, Sven Partheil-Böhnke, when the operation was called off due to darkness. Apparently, the whale managed these last few metres during the night under its own steam.
What has happened so far
The humpback whale was spotted off Niendorf at around 1.50 a.m. on Monday night (23 March 2026) after a nearby hotel reported unusual noises. The animal, which was around ten to 15 metres long, had been stuck on a sandbank in shallow water ever since. Measurements had revealed that the humpback whale was larger than initially assumed: It was estimated to weigh around 15 tonnes. With such a massive animal, it is all the more difficult to bring it back into deeper water.
The police and fire brigade have been in constant action since Monday, supported by experts from the ITAW, the German Marine Foundation and a team from the marine conservation organisation Sea Shepherd. Schleswig-Holstein's Environment Minister Tobias Goldschmidt and Minister President Daniel Günther also visited the site to gain an impression of the situation.
Helpers had already tried to bring the whale into deeper water on Monday - without success. In the afternoon, experts from the ITAW approached the animal with inflatable boats. The whale briefly turned its snout towards the open bay - but then waves pushed it back onto the sandbank. Attempts by police boats to swim the animal free by creating waves were also unsuccessful.
On Tuesday, a rescue attempt with a smaller suction excavator failed because the sandy ground was too hard. The large excavators then arrived on Wednesday and Thursday.
Probably the same whale as before
It is possible that the stranded animal was the same whale that got caught in a fishing net off the coast of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania near Steinbeck a fortnight ago. It was discovered in Wismar harbour at the beginning of March, where emergency services largely freed it from a net. Last Friday, Sea Shepherd freed the whale from further net remnants off Travemünde. The remaining lines were removed by the Niendorf fire brigade on Monday.
Hundreds of onlookers followed the drama
Every day, hundreds of curious onlookers gathered on the beach in Niendorf to watch the drama unfold. The police had cordoned off the stretch of beach and the area around Niendorf harbour and urgently appealed to onlookers not to approach the animal on land, in the water or from the air.
Ursula Meer
Redakteurin Panorama und Reise
