Family of minke whales including a baby are found dead off the Suffolk and Essex coastlines as marine workers try to work out how they died
- Adult minke whale, weighing five tons, washed up dead at Felixstowe beach
- Baby whale was found dead in River Ore in Orford hours earlier on Saturday
- Whales found washed up close to Orford Ness Cold War base on Suffolk coast
A family of minke whales have been found dead off the Suffolk and Essex coastlines.
The female and calf were found within miles of each other and a male is feared to be floating dead five or six miles off the coast.
It is believed they got into difficulty after becoming disoriented and swam into the shallow waters near Harwich, Essex, and Felixstowe, in Suffolk.
Now council staff and rescue workers are trying to establish what happened and dispose the mammals.
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Pictured: The corpse of a whale floats in the sea, along the coast of Felixstowe in Suffolk
Left, crowds gather to see the whale along a Felixstowe beach and right, the corpse floating in the sea
The adult minke whale lies stranded on the Suffolk coast after becoming disorientated in the shallow waters
A team of marine experts are currently at the scene and may remain overnight while they carry out their investigation.
In Felixstowe crowds flocked to the scene of the tragedy, where the seven metre black and white whale washed up near the pier. It is estimated the animal weighs up to two and half tonnes.
In the nearby River Ore the smaller calf was found after being spotted disoriented on Friday night, having become separated from its parents.
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A large male has been spotted off the coast of Harwich, although it has not yet come to land.
John Cresswell , chairman of the voluntary Felixstowe Coast Patrol Rescue Service, said: 'At the moment there are three of them and rumours of two more, this has not been confirmed.
He said that it was normal for porpoises to wash up on the shore but not whales.
He said: ‘This is a really sad day. I have worked as a volunteer coast guard for 21 years now and never seen anything like it. These creatures are beautiful and we need to do something to stop this.’
Mr Cresswell added that another two minke whales are currently in distress.
He thinks there are two possible reasons for the deaths. He said: ‘Sometimes whales can’t get very good sonar transmission near mudbanks, which means they end up at shore.
‘I also believe that the wind turbines would have contributed to this, as whales aren’t able to communicate properly when wind turbines are being used.’
Mr Cresswell said the Council cancelled plans to use a disposal firm to tow the whales to sea and ‘let nature take its course’ over fears the carcasses could be a hazard to fishermen. There are an estimated 800,000 minke whales in the world.
A minke corpse is washed up the rocky shore in Suffolk after being separated from its pod
Experts are now carrying out tests on the whales to find out why they died within miles of each other
One theory behind the death of the whales is that they were disorientated by the vibrations of nearby coastal windfarms
'I'm not an expert and it is a personal opinion but I have heard from fisherman recently that most of the fish have gone.
'I know for a fact if you stop the boat off the coast you can feel the vibrations and hear the noise. This could confuse them.'
He added: 'It's not clear if it is a whole pod, but it looks like this could be a whole family.
'It's a sad end for such a majestic creature.
'People have been coming down to see them and it's quite upsetting.'
The latest standings comes months after a giant sperm whale washed up in Norfolk in October 2016.
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