'Skinny' pilot whale stranded off coast dies

Julia Cable said due to the poor health of the whale it was not going to be a "good outcome"

A whale stranded off the Norfolk coast has died.

The pilot whale was first seen on Sunday near Snettisham, Norfolk.

Julia Cable, from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue, said the animal died on Monday afternoon despite attempts to rescue it.

"It wasn't going to be a good outcome," she said.

"It was really really skinny, it was deteriorating really quickly... we got to it and we knew it wasn't well and we were arranging for it to be euthanised, but it died naturally."

Ms Cable said the whale had got on to the mudflats of the beach and was "really skinny" with severe sunburn.

She added it had likely been separated from a larger group, but because it was in "really poor condition" it would not have found its way back out to sea.