WATCH: Bad weather hampering humpback whale rescue in Forth

A rescue operation to save a humpback whale tangled in rope in the Forth is being hampered by bad weather.

A team from the British Dive Marine Rescue team have been stationed at Kinghorn Beach monitoring the animal since early last week.

They need a confirmed sighting of the animal in order to head out on the water and attempt a rescue.

Until now the divers have struggled to locate the animal, but now have a number of sightings. However, strong wind and rain is stopping them from untangling the whale.

It's not known the extent of danger that the animal may be in, but the team fear time is running out to perform a rescue.

Lead diver Paul Smith told Forth News: "At the minute the weather is pretty horrendous, very choppy seas, extremely poor visability, so we cannot launch our small rescue craft becuase of the dangers posed to the crew. Plus we can't actually see the whale.

"These type of rescues can be very frustrating, cause its not a quick fix. It's not like when we have a beached whale that we can deal with. These things when they are free swimming can roam vast distances, and it's frustrating cause we want to get out there and do the best for the animal but not being able to locate it is a big problem."