Beached Orcas Rescued Off Russian Coast

Moscow: Russian rescue teams succeeded on Friday in saving a family of orcas who had become beached in shallow water in the far east of the country.

The cetaceans -- two adults and two young -- had been stranded since Wednesday on the shore of the Kamchatka peninsula, around 6,500 kilometres (4,000 miles) east of Moscow.

Russia's emergency situations ministry and volunteers had poured water on the marine mammals -- also known as killer whales -- to avoid them drying out and tried to move them into deeper water by hand.

"The orcas have gone out to sea," the ministry said on Telegram on Friday, hailing a successful rescue mission.

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Specialists had helped shepherd the impressive creatures up an estuary to where the water was deep enough for them to swim, helping them return to the ocean.

The orca -- a toothed whale from the dolphin family -- is a predator that eats seals and fish, has a global population estimated at 50,000 and is found in almost all of the world's seas.

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