By Leon Watson

PUBLISHED: 00:44 EST, 9 October 2012 | UPDATED: 02:19 EST, 9 October 2012

A large section of coastline in South Africa has been closed after a beached 30 metre long whale was attacked by Great White sharks.

The sharks fed off the giant mammal's carcass when it washed up on Muizenberg beach near Cape Town on Sunday.

Authorities have since removed the southern right whale, but say it was found with chunks of flesh torn off its body. A stretch of shore has now been closed to the public 'as a precaution'.

A man photographs a beached Southern right whale carcass washed up on Muizenberg beach on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa

Disaster response teams had moved swiftly to get the animal out of the water and onto a flat-bed truck.

Wilfred Solomons-Johannes, a spokesman for Cape Town's disaster risk management centre, said: 'A decision was taken to begin the recovery operation immediately because of the increase of shark activity off beaches along the False Bay coastline.'

The warning did not stop curious onlookers streaming to the site.

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Beaches close in South Africa after Great White sharks tear flesh from a giant whale that washed up on shore