A WHALE belonging to a pod of 40 trapped off the Essex coast has died.

Despite best efforts by Essex Police and volunteers from the British Divers' Marine Life Rescue, the pilot whale was recovered at Goldhanger this afternoon.

A passer-by spotted the beached carcass of a six-foot female earlier and notified the relevant authorities.

A post-mortem examination will be carried out tomorrow morning.

The police and rescue teams had been trying to herd the pilot whales out to sea.

It is understood the deceased whale had been sick when the pod came to the Essex coast and the others had been nursing it before its death.

The pod was first spotted near Brightlingsea and Mersea Island, on Tuesday.

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See the full story in Friday's Gazette