Moscow:

A group of Russian rescuers and volunteers have saved four killer whales stranded for hours off the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia’s far east after leading them to deeper waters, the SHOT Telegram channel reported on Wednesday.

Russia’s emergency situations ministry had earlier warned that the whales – two orcas and two calves – were stuck in a silted estuary.

That prompted more than 30 rescuers to use small boats to aid the whales, dousing them with water as they tried to push them into deeper waters.

SHOT said the whale family had been successfully escorted out and were safe.

Video published by SHOT showed rescuers trying to aid the whales in the pitch dark. “All right, everybody’s safe and sound,” one of the rescuers is heard saying.

The Kamchatka Peninsula is a 1,250-kilometre-long (777 miles) peninsula in the Russian far east, some 6,500 kilometres east of Moscow.