Whale dies in researchers' net

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- A humpback whale drowned in Alaska's Prince William Sound after becoming entangled in the net of a research vessel.

The Anchorage Daily News said the Alaska Department of Fish and Game vessel "Solstice" was conducting routine winter herring research in Sawmill Bay, about 100 miles southwest of Valdez last Thursday when the accident occurred.

"This is the kind of terribly unfortunate accident that saddens all of us," said Denby Lloyd, director of the division of commercial fisheries, in a prepared statement,

Humpback whales are an endangered species protected under several federal laws. Officials told the newspaper that charges were unlikely because it was an accident.