A group of killer whales attacked a yacht with a crew of two off the west coast of Portugal. Animals destroyed the ship’s rudder. This is not the first time that killer whales have attacked ships in the region, and scientists still do not know what causes this behavior.
According to Setúbal Port Captain Serrano Augusto, a Norwegian-flagged sailboat was damaged on Saturday morning, about 19 kilometers south of the resort of Sesimbra. The crew of two people was rescued by a commercial ship that passed by.
– The members of the crew of the attacked yacht are feeling well, said the Portuguese Maritime Police.
As it turned out, the animals completely destroyed the steering wheel of the unit. Earlier, as the crew members reported, a group of killer whales hit the hull of the yacht.
Many theories
This is not the first time that killer whales have attacked ships near the Iberian Peninsula. According to local media, the phenomenon of killer whale attacks on yachts, which has increased since 2019, has decreased in recent months. While 60 such incidents were registered on the Portuguese coast in 2023, in 2024 there were twice as many.
According to scientists, the decrease in the number of killer whale attacks is the result of the increasing number of yachts near the coast of Portugal, where the presence of these animals can be observed in shallow waters.
The reasons for the attack of killer whales on yachts, as mentioned by the newspaper “Jornal de Noticias”, are still unknown, and the theories that explain this phenomenon divide scientists. According to some assumptions, the animals are just having fun, but some believe that they are easing the trauma of the previous collision with the boats.
Main photo source: Shutterstock – stock photo
