Weird News of the Day

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A New Zealand man trying to free a 50 foot humpback whale ensnared in lobster pot ropes is missing and presumed dead after being hit by the whale's tail, police said Monday. The 38-year-old, who has not yet been named, had gone to the aid of a whale in waters near the popular whale-watching town of Kaikoura, 90 miles south of Wellington. "He was trying to cut the rope free from the whale's tail and the whale lifted its tail and struck him," Kaikoura police Sergeant Tony Yardley told Reuters. A four-hour search by boats and a helicopter found no sign of the man and he was presumed dead, Yardley added.