An emergency response team from Kamchatka rescued a white whale which got caught in fishing nets in Schlyupochnaya Bay near Tri Brata (Three Brothers) rocks in Avacha Bay.

“In order to assist the whale we set up a team of rescue workers and researchers and set off on an EMERCOM motorboat,” the Kamchatka Territory branch of the Russian Ministry for Emergencies reports.

The white whale was not injured, but the ropes grazed some of its skin.

Rescuers had to cut the ropes off while holding the whale up, said Igor Shilin, head of EMERCOM’s marine search and rescue unit in the Far East.

“The rescue operation took three hours including the time it took to get to the whale,” Shilin said.

Scientists say that it is very uncommon to see white whales in Avacha Bay.