A sailboat was severely wrecked by killer whales early on Thursday off the coast of southern Spain, and the incident was caught on camera.
The Mustique was travelling to Gibraltar when it was rammed by a gang of orcas, according to the local maritime rescue agency. The orcas destroyed the boat’s rudder and punctured the hull.
According to a spokesman for Reuters, the boat’s four-person crew requested assistance from the Spanish authorities.
The boat, which was flying the flag of Great Britain, was reached by a rapid response vessel and a helicopter carrying a bilge pump.
In this image taken from social media on May 24, 2023, a sailing boat damaged by killer whales off the coast of southern Spain is visible from a port in Barbate, Spain. via REUTERS (April Boyes/Instagram @april_georgina)
To facilitate repairs, the Mustique was towed to the port of Barbate.
This attack is the most recent in a string of orca attacks on ships off the shores of Portugal and Spain.
Another yacht experienced a similar hit earlier this month and was totally inundated before being abandoned to drown.
In this still picture taken from a social media video, people are seen cleaning water out of a sailing boat that was severely damaged by killer whales off the coast of southern Spain on May 24, 2023. (April Boyes/april_georgina/on Instagram; via REUTERS)
A British couple who were sailing off the coast of Morocco remembered the hour-long attack by orcas that began as they bumped their boat.
According to a research, scientists worry that young whales may mimic the actions of White Gladis, a traumatised orca.
In this still picture taken from a social media video, people are seen cleaning water out of a sailing boat that was severely damaged by killer whales off the coast of southern Spain on May 24, 2023. (April Boyes/april_georgina/on Instagram; via REUTERS)
The idea that defensive behaviour based on trauma is the cause of everything is strengthening for us every day, according to Alfredo López Fernandez, co-author of a June 2022 study on aggressive encounters off the Iberian coast, who said as much to LiveScience earlier this month. “The orcas are doing this on purpose, of course, we don’t know the origin or the motivation, but defensive behaviour based on trauma, as the origin of all this, gains more strength for us every day,”
May saw 18 such interactions in the area, according to the Atlantic Orca Working Group.
On December 12, 2013, an orca swims at the Marineland animal exhibition park in the French Riviera city of Antibes. (Getty Images )
According to NOAA Fisheries, the killer whale is the largest member of the dolphin family and the ocean’s top predator. Every population of killer whales is protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and they can be found in every ocean on earth.
Killer whales can live for decades and are thought to number over 50,000 in the world. Males can live for at least 60 years while females normally survive for about 50 years.
