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RIO DE JANEIRO — With the help of hundreds of people and the return of the high tide, a humpback whale stranded on a beach in the coastal city of Buzios in southeastern Brazil has returned to the ocean.

A spokesman for Buzios City Hall said the whale had found its way back into the ocean Thursday afternoon. It had been beached since Wednesday.

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Hundreds of people had gathered on the beach of Praia Rasa to help with the rescue effort.

Video footage from local media showed excavators and dozens of people with shovels digging into the sand around the mammal in an attempt to save it.

Biologists at the scene said the whale was young, measured 45 feet and was believed to weigh between 10 to 15 tons.