After spending more than a week trying to save a humpback whale stranded off Germany's northern coast, rescue officials have conceded their hopes have run out.
The whale became stuck on a sandbank on 23 March before being rescued days later - only to swim into shallow waters on Poel Island, further down the Baltic Sea coast.
"We're of the firm opinion the animal will die there," Burkard Baschek, head of the German Oceanographic Museum, said on Wednesday.
During an emotional press briefing, local environment minister Till Backhaus said rescuers had "tried everything to give him a chance" and called the situation "an exceptional tragedy".
Greenpeace marine biologist Thilo Maack said they had tried to stop the whale entering a shallow bay on Poel Island, but it had done so anyway.
First spotted in German coastal waters in early March, the whale is thought to have become entangled in netting before eventually becoming stranded on a sandbank on Timmendorfer Strand, near the town of Travemünde.
The humpback is also thought to have been suffering from a skin condition brought on by the lower salt levels of the Baltic Sea.
Late last week, hopes had been high that the whale might move to deeper waters after excavators dug a channel enabling him to swim off.
