Hundreds of people stood and watched what looked like an attempt to rescue a stranded whale from South Bay beach over the weekend.

However, in reality the whale was an inflatable model being used for a training course by the British Divers Marine Life Rescue.

The organisation, who rescue marine mammals from around the UK, were teaching students from Park Lane College, in Leeds, the basics of a rescue for the marine module of their animal care course.

Bev Drayton, Yorkshire regional co-ordinator for the organisation, said: “Despite warning people in the newspaper before hand there were unfortunately a lot of people who thought the whale was real. A lot of people were crying as they thought the whale was going to die.

“We had to run round reassuring them we were only using models. People kept coming in waves. Often we had just finished calming down one group of people when another would arrive showing the same concerns.

“Having said that it was a fantastic response really, as if it had been real there were a lot of people offering their help. It was touching to see that so many people cared.”

Despite the confusion Mrs Drayton said the training course was a success, and Park Lane College have decided to sign up for the training course annually. If anyone is interested in training with the British Divers Marine Life Rescue, either as a group or an individual, contact Bev Drayton on 07980 455 382, or the organisation’s head office on (01825) 765546.