Mundesley Coastguard Rescue Team contacted the UK Coastguard just after 10am this morning to report the whale was 300-400 yards off shore. The whale, which is the seventh whale in that area, was reported to be alive and thrashing about in the shallow water.
Last week a whale beached on the Norfolk coast died shortly after being washed up on Hunstanton Beach after 8pm on Thursday.
UK Coastguard has alerted Happisburgh and Mundesley Coastguard Rescue Teams who are currently on the shoreline keeping a watchful eye over the position of whale. British Divers Marine Life Rescue, the Zoological Society of London, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s Receiver of Wreck and the local council have also been informed.
UK Coastguard Mike Puplett said: "We are advising people to keep at a safe distance from the whale, so we do not cause any further distress to it. We are doing all we can to assist the authorities and allow those with rescue experience to do their work."
Stephen Marsh, operations manager at the BDMLR, said: "At the moment the report from the coastguard is that the whale is still free-swimming.
"Because we`re come up to spring tide, the waters may be a bit deeper but that can be a double-edged sword because you get very high tides and very low tides.
"If it does strand the story will be very similar to what we`ve had recently - the whale will have very little chance of relaunching and, if it does, its chances of survival will be very low."
7th whale found
09 February 2016
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A seventh whale has been spotted in shallow water off the coast of Norfolk, according to reports.
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