Stephen PullingerA 15ft dead whale was washed up on the beach near Great Yarmouth's Wellington Pier on Saturday night.Stephen Pullinger

A 15ft dead whale was washed up on the beach near Great Yarmouth's Wellington Pier on Saturday night.

The decomposed whale was cordoned off by RNLI lifeguards and coastguards yesterday morning ahead of it being collected by the borough council's environmental health team.

Lifeguard Jack Ollington said: 'A lady came up and reported it to us. We don't know what sort of whale it is, but it was very emaciated.

'It must have been floating around in the sea for quite some time.'

He said coastguards had compiled a report to be sent to the Natural History Museum in London and if their experts thought the find was significant it was possible they would send someone to inspect it.