Since Monday, Timmy, as German media have dubbed the whale, has been fighting for his life in the southwestern Baltic Sea.
After an intensive rescue effort - with a floating excavator and wave-making boats - the more-than-ten-meter-long whale finally managed to break free on Friday. The hope was that Timmy would swim back to the North Sea and on to the Atlantic, but on Saturday he got stuck on a new sandbank in the Bay of Wismar.
Late Saturday, hope was raised when the water level rose and Timmy managed to free himself again. But he didn't get far before he ran aground again.
The whale is now becoming weaker and weaker. The German Bild reporter on site describes the animal's sounds as terrifying - "pitiful but piercing."
