Orcas attack yacht off Portugal in series of mysterious strikes
Two Norwegian sailors had a terrifying adventure off the coast of Portugal when a group of orcas attacked their yacht. This is yet another such incident in this region.
In May of last year, the sailboat "Levante" set sail from Norway with two sailors on board. A few days ago, when the yacht was already en route to its home port, it was attacked by a group of orcas.
The forecasted bad weather prompted the sailors to change course and dock at the port of Lisbon. At that point, they noticed several dolphins accompanying them along the hull. Moments later, they spotted larger fins on the left side of the boat. "From the moment we noticed it, it only took two seconds for the first hit," one of the sailors recounted to the Norwegian newspaper VG. They suddenly realized a pod of orcas was attacking them.
The orcas not only struck the boat, altering its course, but they also began to bite it, damaging the boat's rudder, among other things. The sailors immediately sent out a "Mayday" signal and informed the port of Sesimbra of their troubles. They feared that their boat might sink.
Over 800 attacks in four years
A commercial ship named NQ Rosa was the first to respond to the call for help. It positioned itself half a mile from the damaged yacht to monitor the situation. After about two hours, a Portuguese rescue boat arrived at the scene and towed the damaged vessel to port.
Such incidents involving orcas attacking sailing boats were completely unknown just a few years ago, but since 2020, there's been a noticeable increase in reports.
According to the latest report from the organization GT Orca Atlántica (GTOA), from 2020 to the end of August 2024, a total of 824 documented orca attacks on boats have been recorded in the Strait of Gibraltar, the western Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Portugal, the northern coast of Spain, and the western coast of France.
Scientists are surprised by this behavior because orcas live in all the world's oceans, yet they attack sailing boats only off the southwestern coast of Europe. Despite hundreds of such incidents, experts still do not have certain answers as to why orcas exhibit this behavior.
Source: vg.no
