Copenhagen, June 19: A whale stranded for two days on the edge of a Danish fjord is ill and has almost no chance of surviving, experts said on Friday, after rescue efforts were called off.
Thousands of people have flocked to see the distressed fin whale at the Vejle fjord in western Denmark.
But rescuers, who have made repeated attempts since Wednesday morning to help it return to the water at high tide, later decided to allow it to “die naturally and in peace”.
Fire-fighters are continuing to spray the mammal, which weighs between 20 and 30 tonnes, with water to give it protection from the sun, according to footage broadcast by Danish channel TV2 News.
Experts who have seen the whale said it was ill and that there was “almost no chance” of it surviving, said Henrik Lykke Soerensen, operations co-ordinator at the Danish Forest and Nature agency, part of the environment ministry.
—Agencies