Chilling moment: Killer whales circle terrified sailors before ramming their yacht and ripping the rudder off during the latest killer whale attack off the coast of Portugal
Footage shows the chilling moment when killer whales circle a group of terrified sailors before they can be seen ramming the yacht and ripping off the rudder during Portugal’s latest killer whale attack.
The frightened tourists were trapped aboard the damaged ‘Santa Barbara’ off the coast of Sesimbra, Portugal, on the afternoon of August 9.
In the video, a woman can be seen calling the authorities asking for help, saying they are stranded a mile from land.
She is heard to say: ‘We are being attacked by killer whales off the coast of Sesimbra. We are about a mile from Sesimbra. We have several killer whales around our sailboat.’
The rest of the group watches the water in apparent fear as at least three killer whales continually circle their boat.
The frightened tourists were trapped aboard the damaged ‘Santa Barbara’ off the coast of Sesimbra, Portugal, on the afternoon of Aug. 9. The group watches the water in apparent fear as at least three killer whales continuously circle their boat.
Some of the passengers turn out to be teenage boys. The sailors were reportedly rendered helpless after the animals damaged the rudder and part of it fell
Meanwhile, the woman can again be heard saying she is ‘tired of calling’ and no one is answering.
Some of the passengers turn out to be teenage boys.
The sailors were reportedly rendered helpless after the animals damaged the rudder and part of it fell.
Desperate to get away, they reportedly dumped diesel into the sea in an attempt to keep the killer whales away. In the video, a crew member can be seen spilling some kind of liquid over the stern of the sailboat.
Maritime Police commander Marco Serrano Augusto said they received an alert around 7 p.m.
He added: ‘The skipper said he had never seen orcas in 20 years of sailing.’
Augusto said when help arrived there were no visible signs of pollution and warned that it is illegal to spill fuel into the sea.
Emergency services later towed the sailboat to the port, according to local media.
No one was hurt.
The Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forest (ICNF) said that in the event of a sighting of a killer whale, all sailors should turn off their engines to discourage the animals from approaching.
Desperate to get away, they reportedly dumped diesel into the sea in an attempt to keep the killer whales away. In the video, a crew member can be seen spilling some kind of liquid over the stern of the sailboat
As of July, the ICNF has banned tourist vessels from actively approaching killer whales to avoid serious consequences.
An ICNF spokesperson said: ‘Although the reasons for this recent and repetitive behavior towards the vessels are unknown, it is known that the first interactions, carried out by a small group of young killer whales, are currently being carried out by a wider group of animals. ‘
According to the Grupo de Trabalho Orca Atlantica (GTOA) – a team of Spanish and Portuguese marine life researchers who study killer whales near the Iberian Peninsula – more than 200 orca-boat interactions were recorded off the coast of Portugal and Portugal by 2022 Spain.
The reasons behind the killer whales’ sudden interest in sailboats so far remain a mystery to the scientific community.