About a dozen killer whales that were trapped under sea ice in Hudson Bay, Canada, have now reached open water.
Inukjuak village leader Tommy Palliser said the winds shifted overnight, pushing floating ice away from the coast and opening the water.
The BBC reports the whales had been jockeying for space to breathe through a gap in the ice.
They were spotted by a hunter on Tuesday, the day after the bay froze.
Mr Palliser said two hunters had since reported the water had opened around the area where the whales were seen surfacing for air.
"They confirmed that the whales were no longer there and there was a lot of open water," he said.
Marine researcher Lyne Morissette told CBC News that the whales would still have to travel more than 100km to reach the northern Atlantic Ocean.
Many villagers made a one-hour snowmobile ride on Tuesday to see the whales.
On Wednesday, the village asked the Canadian government to send icebreaker ships to help free the whales. But Inukjuak Mayor Peter Inukpuk said the ships were too far away to help.
