A TERRIFYING pod of orcas spent days lurking off the coast of Portugal before attacking a pleasure yacht, an expert has revealed.
Five sailors had to be rescued from the sinking vessel after they made a panicked SOS call back to shore as their boat was smashed up by killer whales.
CENThe moment a pleasure yacht was smashed into by a pod of orcas off the coast of Portugal[/caption]
CENA killer whale watcher revealed the vessel’s skipper was aware of the orcas lurking in the area beforehand[/caption]
CENThe attack lasted just five minutes before it sank, according to witnesses[/caption]
Orca tracker Rui Alves was in permanent contact with the vessel both before and during the savage altercation as he revealed its skipper was aware of the beasts lurking in the area beforehand.
He told The Sun that the sailors on board decided to take the risk of going out on the choppy waters on Saturday – and even ignored a key safety measure.
Mr Alves said: “I was involved in the situation, and I was permanently in contact with the skipper and with the guys on the boats around.
“We had seen two days before the orcas around that area, but the sailors were thinking they can take the risk. And so they decided to go.
“They were in more than 20m (65ft) water and we advised them to go in less than 20 meters deep.”
Chilling footage shows the moment the four killer whales launched an attack on the sailboat near to Fonte da Telha beach.
One of the orcas begin repeatedly striking the vessel which belonged to the Nautic Squad Club.
After several blows, the vessel can be seen tilting dangerously from side to side before slowly submerging and sinking to the bottom.
The five people on board were rescued while nearby vessels tried unsuccessfully to tow it to safety.
It sank shortly afterwards.
Mr Alves said the footage showed a routine orca attack as he said the crew had phoned in the attack after an initial blow.
He explained: “They had a problem with the orcas when they touched the rudder as the first push of the rudder was very strong.
“By this point they couldn’t really react very much to the situation.
“I think they were in a situation where they managed it the best that they could but that’s not enough.
“The only thing that could have prevented the attack is not to be there at that moment.”
João Filipe, a skipper leading a dolphin-watching tour nearby, rushed over to try and salvage the vessel when he saw the attack.
He told the Notícias ao Minuto newspaper: “I saw the sailboat moving erratically. Then I realised it was being attacked by an orca.
“We tried to refloat it, but the damage was too great and it slowly sank because too much water was entering.
“Everything took a little more than an hour – about five minutes of orca interaction, then the boat sinking.”
A second vessel was also immobilised in the same area after it was struck in a similar fashion.
The National Maritime Authority said a boat with five people aboard had to be towed to shore after its rudder was broken, leaving it without steering.
Mr Alves launched a website in 2022, called orcas.pt, that tracks orca encounters with boats.
It emcompasses both sightings and attacks off the coast of Portugal and near the Strait of Gibraltar where there have been heightened strikes in recent years.
He has kept a close eye on global orca activity after a number of sailors have been caught up in horror assaults.
Last week, another pod of killer whales attacked two boats off the coast of Spain.
Both incidents, described by crew members as “very scary”, took place in the waters of Galicia, north-west Spain.
I joined orca team searching for infamous killer whales smashing into yachts
THE SUN’S Aliki Kraterou joined the specialist orca team searching for fearsome killer whale White Gladis and her gang in the choppy waters off Gibraltar.
She met the squad of Sea Shepherd France in the port of Barbate, a small fishing village in Spain, as they searched for the pod that have taken to attacking boats.
The group, part of the Save the Iberian Orcas operation, is focused on documenting the orcas’ interactions with vessels in the Strait of Gibraltar and preventing reprisals by sailors.
One particular rogue pod of whales with its leader White Gladis has been behind several attacks – smashing into boats and causing them to sink.
When The Sun arrived at the Andalusian port, Captain Thomas Le Coz welcomed us and introduced the team to the Walrus’ crew.
Thomas showed us the so-called “hot zone,” just south of the port, where they have had the most encounters with the killer whales.
The team’s leader, Lamya Essemlali, explained that the killer whales are usually found in Spanish and Moroccan waters, but it’s not uncommon for them to reach Portugal while during the winter they head up north and go as far as Britanny in France.
Lamya was chatty, friendly and passionate as she explained why the whales are not a threat to humans.
She finished her thoughts in a philosophical tone, saying that humans are entering the sea which is in fact the orcas’ natural habitat and we all need to be more humble regarding our place in the sea.
“We are just their guests, this is their home, we are passing through,” she added.
In July, a pack of killer whales struck in the Atlantic after nearly capsizing a yacht and leaving a helpless crew fearing for their lives.
The terrifying encounter, said to be linked to the bloodthirsty White Gladis pod, took place two miles north of the Spanish town of Deba.
And in July of last year, a Brit yachtsman posted video footage of his boat sinking after it was attacked by orcas.
The reason behind these near fatal encounters is often attributed to the killer whales simply playing around rather than any twisted attack plot.
Mr Alves said: “Scientists will alway explain that if an orca is busy or if they’re hunting or something they will not care about the sailing boat.
“But if there is no activity, the orca will see a sailing boat passing and will approach it and try to force the rudder from one side to the other side.
“They play with the rudder because it’s a moving part of the boat.
“They approach the boat to play with the rudder but they are very heavy – sometimes six tones – so they break it.
“I accept this explanation but I also think they will never know, really, 100 per cent because we cannot talk with the orcas.”
SEA SHEPHERD FRANCEOrcas are often believed to play with boats instead of outright attacking them[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
