Lifeboat crews saved a 21ft whale, after it was found stranded on a beach in Scotland.
The Minke Whale was discovered on a beach in Eilie, Fife on Friday night.
Stranded on a rocky reef, the female whale had superficial cuts on her body.
Volunteers from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDLMR) and the RNLI rushed down to save her.
But it was no easy task and two life lifeboats, BDMLR, Coastguard, Police Scotland and the SSPCA, all worked together to help.
A spokesperson from BDLMR said: ‘As she was quite active and partly in the water, it was a real struggle for the team to get her afloat again as she was trying to swim off the reef but the lack of depth was against her.
‘Eventually the team were able to get her afloat and moved her to slightly deeper water – she was swimming shallowly by this time.’
But the whale did not make the operation easy for the volunteers.
An RNLI spokesman said: ‘After a successful first re-float of the whale, our D Class lifeboat joined the teams initially to steer the whale away from returning to the coastline but a second grounding unfortunately occurred.
‘The BDMLR team deployed a re-floatation pontoon which allowed the Minke whale enough water to float once again and, with gentle encouragement, the whale was freed.’
The whale has not been spotted since and rescuers believe she has now made it back to open water.
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