For local officials, the snag was getting rid of all 15 metres of the malodorous corpse as quickly as possible, before it attracted sharks and repelled summer tourists.

According to Barend Nelson of the George fire department, the small beach and shallow waters of Victoria Bay, a well-known surfing spot 400 kilometres (300 miles) east of Cape Town, make traditional methods of disposing of a whale carcass difficult.

"Usually they take it out to sea and blow it up with dynamite, it's not possible here because the water is too shallow," he told AFP.

"Here in Victoria Bay if it starts rotting in the water it will attract sharks."

Nelson said the humpback whale snapped a 22 tonne cable which emergency rescue workers used to try pull it onto the beach.

However, they eventually succeeded and 12 men were engaged in the messy job of cutting it into pieces with chainsaws and machetes.

"We will dig a big hole at the rubbish dump and bury it," said Nelson, adding that they would use three vehicles to transport the remains to the burial site.

"It's a very messy thing. This is the first time such a huge one beached here."

The whale beached on Sunday in the small bay, which is situated along the Cape's hugely popular Garden Route and a few kilometres from the town of George.

Western Cape waters are full of whales at this time of the year, with humpback and Southern Right whales often seen breaching or frolicking close to shore where they come to calve and nurse their young.

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