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Dead whales to be removed from Skegness beach Dead whales to be removed from Skegness beach
(35 minutes later)
Two dead whales washed up on the Lincolnshire coast are expected to be removed on Wednesday night. Three sperm whales that were stranded on the Lincolnshire coast are to be removed from the beach in Skegness in the next 24 hours.
The pair of sperm whales were found on the beach at Skegness at the weekend and are believed to be part of the same pod as others found in Hunstanton, in Norfolk, and Wainfleet in Lincolnshire. The dead whales were found on the beach at the weekend and are believed to be part of the same pod as others found in Hunstanton, Norfolk, and Wainfleet in Lincolnshire.
Hundreds of people have been to see the whales in Skegness since they were discovered. Scientists who examined the whales found that they had been stranded alive and died after entering shallow North Sea waters in the hunt for food.
Workers spent Tuesday moving the creatures and covering them with sand ahead of their removal. Tests are expected to examine whether they were from the same pods as sperm whales that had washed up on coastlines in Germany and the Netherlands in the past fortnight.
Contractor Jan Smith told BBC Breakfast that plans were in place to remove the whales from the beach on Wednesday evening. On Tuesday, workers used heavy-duty vehicles, including diggers, to move the whales onto the central part of the Skegness beach before their removal. Council officials have been trying to find a landfill site large enough to take the mammals, which each weigh several tonnes.
He said: “We have got to try to manoeuvre them without causing any damage or any more damage to them than has been caused already. The carcass found on former Ministry of Defence land at Wainfleet was inaccessible to scientists and the coastguard on Tuesday. It is not known when it will be removed.
“It’s not the easiest of jobs we have ever done.” Contractor Jan Smith told BBC Breakfast plans were in place to remove the whales from the beach on Wednesday evening. He said: “We have got to try and manoeuvre them without causing any damage or any more damage to them than has been caused already. It’s not the easiest of jobs we have ever done.”
He added that he was part of the team that removed a 30-tonne whale from the beach near Skegness Pier in 2012. James Gilbert, head of media and tourism at East Lindsey district council, said the removal on Wednesday night was not “100% confirmed” and that there were operational matters to finalise.
The strandings – the biggest sperm whale stranding off the English coast since records began in 1913 – have drawn thousands of tourists to Skegness since the weekend.