Off-course whale disappears in Amazonian river

An 18-foot-long minke whale that ran aground on a sandbar in the Amazon jungle got dislodged and disappeared in the Tapajos River, some 1,000 miles from the ocean, Brazilian media reported today.

Brazil’s Environmental Protection Agency, known as Ibama, called off its search for the whale late on Friday after trying to find the mammal by helicopter with the help of local residents in boats, the O Globo newspaper reported.