Curious onlookers are being told to show respect and keep their distance from a dead whale which stranded on a beach at Bridlington.

The massive 55ft (17m) mammal, thought to be a male fin whale, became stranded close on South Beach at around 1pm on Tuesday.

A large cordon was put up after crowds of onlookers gathered on the shoreline to look at the sea creature when it became trapped in shallow water.

Members of British Divers Marine Life Rescue tried to save the whale - which is the world's second-largest animal – with assistance from HM Coastguard but it was pronounced dead at around 6pm.

A huge whale that washed up on a British beach has sadly passed away. See SWNS story SWLNwhale; The 55ft (17m) long creature was confirmed dead off Bridlington's South Beach at around 18:00 BST on Tuesday, British Divers Marine Life Rescue told the BBC. It was believed to be a male fin whale, the world's second-largest animal after the blue whale. Bridlington's mayor Mike Heslop-Mullens had earlier urged people to keep away while efforts were made to save it.

Locals have been told not to go near the whale's carcass as its currently not known what the animal's cause of death was.

Councillor Tim Norman said he’d been upset by reports of youngsters jumping up and down on the massive carcass: “They’ve been told to keep away and so they should – it’s just out of respect as much as anything.

"There’s a possibility it might have an infection and being another mammal you don’t want it to transfer. They had a cordon round it yesterday but people don’t always respect that kind of thing.”

An East Riding Council spokesperson said: "We are now awaiting zoological experts to travel up from London to carry out an autopsy on the whale, as it is important to establish what happened in this sad incident. In the meantime, arrangements are underway to remove the whale as soon as possible from the beach, but given the size of the carcass, this will be a challenging operation.

"Please stay away from this section of the beach and avoid contact with the carcass."

It comes after a male sperm whale was seen on Good Friday off Cleethorpes in a poor condition which died in shallow water despite assistance by medics from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue. Its carcass then washed back out to sea, ending up on a beach close to the Humber Estuary last week.

There are around 100,000 fin whales left in the wild, which can weigh up to 74 tonnes and reach around 85ft (26m) in length.

The whales are considered endangered and found throughout the world's oceans but are not commonly found in the North Sea.

People told to show respect and keep away from 55ft whale which became stranded on beach at Bridlington