About 10 orcas were trapped in drift ice off the eastern coast of Hokkaido on Tuesday but by Wednesday it appeared that they had escaped to safety, local officials told NHK.
The Japan Coast Guard was alerted Tuesday morning by a fisherman who reported seeing an orca approximately 1 kilometer off the coast of the town of Rausu and surrounded by drift ice, the broadcaster reported.
Video footage taken by Seiichiro Tsuchiya, a marine life expert at Wildlife Pro, showed the orcas, which are also known as killer whales, bobbing up and down frantically, trying to get air. Larger whales can spend long periods underwater, but orcas, which are members of the dolphin family, can only stay submerged for several minutes at a time.