A pod of killer whales trapped in drift ice off Japan appears to have safely escaped

A pod of killer whales that was trapped in drift ice off Japan’s northern main island of Hokkaido has apparently safely escaped, officials said Wednesday.

TOKYO — A pod of killer whales that was trapped in drift ice off Japan’s northern main island of Hokkaido, prompting concern from environmental groups, has apparently safely escaped, officials said Wednesday.

The killer whales, also known as orcas, were initially spotted by a local fisherman who reported them to officials in the nearby town of Rausu on the northeastern coast of Hokkaido on Tuesday morning.

Town officials traveled to the coast later Tuesday and saw about a dozen whales bobbing up and down in a tiny gap surrounded by drift ice, about half a mile offshore.

After analyzing drone footage filmed by a conservationist group, officials counted 13 killer whales there.

The officials returned to the coast Tuesday evening and saw the pod had moved to the north, and it was gone when they returned again Wednesday morning, Rausu official Masataka Shirayanagi said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/pod-killer-whales-trapped-drift-ice-japan-escape-rcna137651

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