Two tourists were rescued after an attack by killer whales near the Spanish resort of Barbate. Predators attacked travelers in the middle of the night, Spanish media reported.
Killer whales attacked off the southern coast of Spain, near the luxurious resort of Barbate, in the municipality of Cadiz. It is unknown how many animals attacked the boat, but passengers were so worried that they called for help. At 2:25 a.m., rescuers received a request for help and immediately went to the tourists in distress. The boat was intercepted and towed to the port at 4:00 am. Fortunately, no one was injured.
Note that this is not the first case of killer whales attacking the Spanish coast. For example, in October 2021, the Spanish government launched a major investigation to find out why killer whales attacked boats in Gibraltar and the country’s autonomous community, Galicia.
The Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Issues has commissioned a study following a series of mammalian attacks on tourists that began in the summer of 2020. According to scientists, in a short time, there were more than 60 incidents. Predators chased tourist yachts and boats and terrified passengers. However, scientists believe that not all animals attacked, but only a few individuals. About 15 percent of the incidents had material consequences for the courts involved.
The ministry said: “Interactions of young killer whales with boats of various types to satisfy their curiosity have been common in recent years in the waters of the Strait of Gibraltar and the southern coast of Portugal. On the other hand, the interaction with sailboats is considered unprecedented due to the physical contact of the samples with the structure of the boats. Some experts believe that killer whales play with boats, but there are doubts about what causes such behavior.
After one of the first attacks last year, a crew member recalled what happened on the ship during the attack: “Our team had just left La Coruna (a large resort town in northwestern Spain) and was a couple of miles (3.2 km) away. shore when the crew suddenly felt the rudder pull out of their hands.”
The yacht was later towed, but the killer whales continued to strike. As a result, they broke the tow rope. When the yacht was lifted ashore, there were obvious bite marks on the hull, and the rudder broke in two.
And after another incident, a member of the yacht’s crew said: “I knew in advance about the encounter with the killer whales, but I thought we had gone through the worst part of it by the time we were towed. There are two small shallow bodies of water around Cádiz (Spain). I was on watch and the boat was on autopilot. Then I turned around and saw the rudder of the boat flying to the left, to the right, then to the left again, then to the right, crashing into the lactose (the box containing the ship’s compass, as well as some other navigation tools). I turned off the autopilot and took manual control, and killer whales appeared everywhere on either side of me. I think we were hit at the wheel 100 or 200 times. It was consistent! They were together for an hour. We lowered the sails according to the instructions, and eventually, they left. But they were gone for only 20 minutes, then they came back. We saw how far they surfaced and headed straight for us. They were very focused on their task.”