"Struggling for air"

Dramatic: group of orcas stuck in the pack ice

Orca alarm off the coast of Japan. A group of killer whales drifted tightly packed in the sea. The animals were trapped by the pack ice.(Bild: KameraOne)

Off the Japanese coast, several orcas were cavorting around a small hole in the pack ice. There were no other ways to get air - the surrounding ice cover is too solid. A fisherman spotted the group by drone. In the meantime, however, the animals are said to have found their own way out of their predicament.

It was a dicey situation for around ten orcas: they had become trapped by the ice. According to broadcaster NHK, they could only wait for the ice to break so they could move on.

"Temperatures are currently low, so it is possible that the killer whales were trapped between the layers of drift ice," said an employee of the local weather bureau in Kushiro, according to a report by Kyodo News.

Temperatures are currently low, so it is possible that the killer whales were trapped between the layers of drift ice.

Ein Mitarbeiter des örtlichen Wetteramtes in Kushiro

Dramatic video
A video on NHK shows the orcas cavorting in a gap in the ice (see above). According to the broadcaster, a fisherman had informed the local coastguard.

The city explained that the thick ice had made it impossible to free the animals. "We have no choice but to wait for the ice to break up so they can escape this way," an official from Rausu told NHK.

"They seemed to be gasping for air"
When fisherman Seiichiro Tsuchiya used a drone to survey the local sea lion population, he spotted the orcas, the report added. "I saw about 13 killer whales with their heads sticking out of a hole in the ice. They seemed to be gasping for air and it looked like there were three or four calves with them."

Orca alarm off the coast of Japan. A group of killer whales floated tightly packed in the sea. The animals were trapped by the pack ice.(Bild: KameraOne)

Orcas threatened to die of exhaustion
Mari Kobayashi from the University of Agriculture in Tokyo said according to NHK: "Killer whales are mammals. They have to surface to breathe through their lungs. The ice floes may have been more extensive than expected, which could have made it difficult for the animals to surface."

The ice floes may have been more extensive than expected, which could have made it more difficult for the animals to surface.(Bild: KameraOne)

She also pointed out that three young orcas could be seen in the footage. "Killer whales are very social animals. If they stay in the area as a group to protect their young, they can slowly die of exhaustion," she said, according to Kyodo News.

However, the animals are now expected to escape safely and move north, according to media reports.