THE seals at Horsey have found themselves sharing their beautiful beach home with a couple of huge plastic pipes that washed ashore after a container ship collided with them while they were being towed to Algeria.

A salvage operation was started following the incident, which saw 12 sections of pipe break free from the tug on the night of July 19 while they were en-route from Norway. Four of them eventually beached on the Norfolk coast - two at Horsey where they became almost as big a tourist attraction as the seals themselves. Others could be seen just off the shore where they had been anchored until they could be recovered.

One closest to the colony was more than 1,500ft long and wide enough to drive a car through. The Coastguard had to issue a warning after receiving several 999 calls that children were playing on or inside it.

Manufactured by Pipeline, they were on their way to a power plant in Algeria when the collision happened. A salvage crew was taken on to gather up the pipes and take them just down the coast to Lowestoft to make them ready for towing back to Norway.

There was some concern that debris from the pipes could be left to litter the beach once the sections were removed but on August 15 a Great Yarmouth Borough Council spokesman said: "Due to the favourable weather and tides, it is hoped that the clean-up operation for all sections of pipe will be concluded by the end of the week. 

“As of yesterday, the plan was to remove the pipe at Winterton Ness at some point today. This may entail having to sever the pipe in two. Any debris resulting from this will be collected at the time along with a beach scour afterwards."