A family of five has been rescued after their yacht was sunk by orca. Their boat was rammed by a pod and started taking on water. The incident occurred around 55 miles south-east of Peniche.
Three children aged eight, ten and 12 were on the French-flagged 36-foot yacht, along with their parents.
‘A sailboat, carrying a couple and three children, was attacked by a group of orcas, who damaged the boat leading it into the water. Following the incident, the five people abandoned the boat using a life raft, being later picked up by a fishing vessel that was nearby’, says a statement from the Portuguese Air Force via Facebook.
Family yacht struck by orca pod in open water
The family sent an SOS and got into a life raft before the vessel, described as having a breached hull, started sinking.
Silmar – a local fishing boat – responded to the alert as the military were mobilised. The Portuguese Air Force winched the survivors from Silmar (watch footage below) – authorities report that no one was injured.
Emergency response mobilised
“During the night of 10 October, the Air Force’s EH-101 Merlin helicopter was called into action to rescue five people who were on board a boat sailing more than 50km from Peniche,” says the Portuguese Air Force’s spokesperson.
“The sailboat, carrying a couple and their three children, was attacked by a group of killer whales, which damaged the vessel, causing it to take on water.”
To support the rescue mission, the Air Force sent a Merlin helicopter at 20:45 on Friday. That – after successfully completing its mission – returned at around 23:00. As well as the helicopter, a Navy frigate and a lifeboat from the Peniche Port Authority were mobilised.
Orca interactions with vessels on the rise
In September this year, a sailing yacht sunk off the coast of Portugal after an encounter with a pod of orca. The boat belonged to the Nautic Squad club. Oceanview came under repeated impact from orcas striking the hull. It was carrying five people, all of whom were safely rescued by another Nautic Squad club vessel before Oceanview sank. The footage below shows the orca colliding with the side of the yacht, leading to its sinking (use the arrow on the right hand side of the video to see more).
The event follows a series of similar incidents previously reported by MIN, with scientists continuing to investigate the behaviour of orca pods.
Portugal’s Maritime Authority says 61 warnings have been sent out to boats already this year alerting them about orca interactions, compared with just 45 last year.
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