THIS is the terrifying moment a killer whale sank a tourist yacht off the coast of Portugal in yet another dangerous attack.
The sailboat carrying five people went down after the orca repeatedly rammed the hull of the vessel near Fonte da Telha beach.
The moment killer whales attacked a small yacht with tourists
The pod of orcas repeatedly rammed the hull of the vessel
The vessel was seen sinking after the attack
Footage shows an orca repeatedly striking the sailboat 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 aboard the Nautic Squad boat were rescued while nearby vessels tried unsuccessfully to tow it to safety.
It sank soon afterwards.
The Maritime Authority said the Lisbon Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre received the first alert at 12.30pm and dispatched lifeguards immediately.
Four people from a second yacht, further north off Cascais, also had to be assisted after the same group of orcas came to attack their vessel.
All nine people on board the two vessels were rescued by nearby tourist boats before official lifeguards reached the scene.
Authorities confirmed that everyone was physically well and did not require medical assistance.
It comes just days after 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, where numerous pods have been spotted in recent weeks.
The first attack was just off the coast of O Grove, situated on the mouth of the Arousa estuary, and hugely popular with tourists, the second was north of the island of Ons.
The orcas destroyed the rudder of the first boat and caused a leak in the second.
“The truth is that we were very scared; we were actually really ‘scared’ when we realised that the killer whales were hitting the boat,” said one of the crew members of the attacked boats.
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.
Robert Powell and two others on the Bonhomme William had to be rescued by coastguards after their vessel capsized in the Strait of Gibraltar.
Why do orcas attack boats?
WHILE researchers are unsure exactly why killer whales have been attacking boats so often lately, many theories have been put forward.
Some experts suggest it could be a playful manifestation of the animals’ curiosity.
But others fear a “critical moment of agony” such as a collision may have sparked aggression towards boats.
Alfredo López Fernandez, a biologist at the University of Aveiro in Portugal, told LiveScience: “That traumatized orca is the one that started this behaviour of physical contact with the boat.”
Some even speculate White Gladis may now be spurring fellow killer whales on.
Orcas are the largest members of the oceanic dolphin family.
Although they never attack humans, the apex predators can take down large groups of whales, hence the name killer.
What makes them a unique marine mammal is that they often hunt in lethal pods and family groups of up to 40 individuals – and feast on fish, dolphins, seal lions, seals, sharks and stingrays.
The carnivores can grow up to 32ft long and weigh up to six tons – and are immediately recognizable by their distinctive black-and-white colouring.
Last year, Brit couple Janet Morris, 58, and Stephen Bidwell, 58, from Cambridge, were involved in a whale attack that lasted for an hour.
The orcas off the Iberian coast often average between 16ft to 21ft in length.
They are considerably smaller than orcas in Antarctica who can reach over 29ft.
The attacks tend to happen between May and August but researchers don’t believe they are often aggressively commited.
Instead, some orcas may disrupt boats out of sheer boredom.
Other experts fear that one main culprit may be teaching other orcas how to strike.
Orcas have increasingly been attacking boats in the waters Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
