About a dozen killer whales trapped under sea ice appeared to be free after the ice shifted, officials in Canada's remote north said yesterday, while residents who feared they would get stuck elsewhere hired a plane to track them down.
The whales' predicament in the frigid waters of Hudson Bay made international headlines, and locals had been planning a rescue operation with chainsaws and drills before the mammals slipped away.
Tommy Palliser said two hunters from remote Inukjuak village reported that the waters had opened up around the area where the cornered whales had been bobbing frantically for air around a single, truck-sized hole in the ice. Shifting winds might have pushed the ice away. "It's certainly good news - that's good news for the whales," said Palliser, a business adviser with the regional government.
Inukjuak, about 1500km north of Montreal, hired an airplane to scan the region for signs of the whales, fearing they might become trapped elsewhere, town manager Johnny Williams said.
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