WHALES MEET AGAIN THANKS TO LOCAL HEROES

BUENOS AIRES: Rescue teams in Argentina used cables attached to a large tractor crane to save two whales stranded on a sandy beach, the World Marine Foundation reported.

The animals were stranded on the beach of the seaside resort town of La Lucila del Mar, 360km south of the capital Buenos Aires. “The first was a juvenile female humpback whale 9.8m long and approximately eight tonnes in weight,” the conservation group said.

The second whale “was a male of the same species, 8.5m long and approximately seven tonnes”.

Some 30 people participated in the rescue operation, including local residents, marine conservationists, Civil Defence members, coast guard officers, firefighters, volunteers and beach lifeguards.

The whole procedure was “very difficult,” the group said. At one point, the force of the waves knocked one whale on its back so its blowhole was underwater and it couldn’t breathe.

“Thanks to their quick action, they were able to turn it over,” said Sergio Rodriguez Heredia, a biologist at the foundation’s rescue centre.

Both whales swam away unhurt.

Picture: AFP Rescuers use a digger crane to move a beached humpback whale back into the open water at Nueva Atlantis, south of Buenos Aires.