Lifeboat volunteers rushed to the rescue of a capsized 'vessel' off the coast of North Berwick, only to find that it was, in fact, a deceased whale.
Volunteer crew members from North Berwick RNLI launched on Sunday, September 3 at 1.40pm to investigate reports of a capsized vessel with a person in the water.
On scene they discovered the ‘vessel’ was a 6m deceased whale which had snagged on a creel end.
The deceased whale is believed to be a minke whale and had reportedly been drifting in the Firth of Forth for few days before it became snagged on a creel end.
Now visible from shore, the creel marker buoys looked like people in the water and the whale looked like a capsized vessel.
North Berwick’s volunteer lifeboat crew attended the scene and were able to confirm that there were no people or vessels in distress.
They passed descriptive details to HM Coastguard along with the whale’s current position as it is a potential hazard to shipping, before being stood down and returning to station.
John McCarter, helm of North Berwick lifeboat said: "It’s obviously a shame to see such a magnificent creature like this dead, something which we’ve already seen twice this year in North Berwick."
"The hope is that the whale will drift free and back out to sea where the natural process can take place, returning the whales nutrients to the ocean environment."
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