Killer whales severely damaged a sailboat off the coast of southern Spain early Thursday in an incident captured on video.
The local maritime rescue service said a group of orcas had broken the boat’s rudder and pierced the hull, ramming the Mustique while it traveled to Gibraltar.
The boat’s four-person crew contacted the Spanish authorities for assistance, a spokesman told Reuters.
A rapid-response vessel and a helicopter carrying a bilge pump were deployed to the boat, which was sailing under a British flag.
Earlier this month, another boat was completely flooded and left to sink after a similar impact.
People remove water from a sailing boat severely damaged by killer whales off the coast of southern Spain, May 24, 2023, in this still image obtained from a social media video. (April Boyes/Instagram @ april_georgina/via REUTERS)
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Off the coast of Morocco, a British couple recalled the moment they were sailing when orcas started bumping their boat in an attack that lasted for an hour.
The group began tracking interactions and sightings in 2020.
An orca swims at the Marineland animal exhibition park in the French Riviera city of Antibes, France, on Dec. 12, 2013. (VALERY HACHE/AFP via Getty Images)
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The killer whale is the ocean’s top predator and the largest member of the dolphin family, per NOAA Fisheries. They are found in every ocean in the world, and all killer whale populations are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.