Rescuers struggle to free ice-trapped killer whales

Rescuers armed with power saws hacked through the ice near Russia’s far eastern territories today in a desperate bid to save the lives of four killer whales thrashing about in confined holes in the freezing Sea of Okhotsk.

Dozens of volunteers from the island of Iturup, among the disputed Kuril chain that lies off the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, ventured onto the ice 295 feet from the coast to try to widen the holes to enable the killer whales to move freely.