Watch Video: Baby whale calf frees trapped mother by pushing her off from sandbank

A stranded humpback whale managed to set herself free from a North Stradbroke Island sandbank, after its calf was filmed trying to push it to safety. The Baby Whale Calf was repeatedly nudging its struggling mother in the shallow water after it stuck around 7.30am AEST.

A Queensland Parks and Wildlife (QPW) spokesman said they first received reports on Thursday night of a mother and calf stranded on the sandbar at Dunwich, on North Stradbroke Island.

Footage shot earlier this morning showed the distressed calf swimming nearby and apparently trying to release. At about 8:15am the mother managed to free itself.

He said they managed to free themselves before the mother was re-stranded closer to shore this morning.

The whale was spotted near North Stradbroke Island, about 100km (62 miles) south-west of Brisbane, early on Wednesday morning. However the distressed calf was later seen pushing her as she splashed in the water to set herself free. About 40 minutes after getting stuck, the whale was able to sel herself free.

"The whale was able to free itself and the adult and the calf were able to swim away," a spokesperson for QPWS told the BBC, adding that they successfully helped the pair out through shallow waters to the open sea.

"The mother was a bit tired and distressed".