Killer whales have attacked the sailing yacht “Champagne” off the coast of Spain. The crew members had to stay on the ship for more than an hour.
Munich/Gibraltar – A disturbing incident has occurred in the open sea just off the coast of Gibraltar: After mysterious whale attacks in the Mediterranean Sea off Spain’s coast were repeatedly reported in the past, people have again become the victims of an orca attack. They were heading towards southern Spain with their sailing yacht when the animals suddenly attacked the sailors in the middle of the night from Thursday to Friday (May 5).
orca | Killer whale (Orcinus orca) from the dolphin family |
Size | Up to 9.8 meters long |
distribution | Mainly in the North Pacific, North Atlantic and polar seas |
Orca attack in the Mediterranean: Yacht sent a distress signal to the Coast Guard
“At first I thought we had rammed something,” reports Werner Schaufelberger, who was on board as skipper yacht.de. “But then I quickly realized that it was orcas that attacked the ship.” Together with three other sailors, Schaufelberg was on a training trip with the Swiss sailing and motorboat school HOZ (Hochseezentrum International) from Tenerife via Malaga to Palma.
Around midnight, the crew members suddenly felt something large crash into the yacht “Champagne”. “We were running under the engine and mainsail in a wind from behind of 7 to 8 knots when suddenly there was a loud rumble,” said Schaufelberger. He immediately switched off the engine and autopilot and sent an emergency signal to the Spanish coast guard.
Yacht attacked by orcas in the Mediterranean: animal rammed ship “with full force”
In order not to further provoke the animals, the crew members tried to behave calmly despite the worrying situation – “We wanted to be as boring as possible for them,” quoted sailreporter.com the skipper. However, the whales were unimpressed and attacked the sailing yacht more and more violently. “The attacks were brutal. There were two smaller and one larger orca. The two little ones shook the rudder while the big one kept running and then rammed the ship from the side with full force.”
The crew had stayed on the ship for about an hour and a half, hoping that the orcas would soon give up, when they discovered two holes on the side of the rudder through which water entered. At this point at the latest, it was clear: the sailors urgently needed help from the coast guard. Tarifa Coastguard sent a helicopter and a sea rescue cruiser, which was there about twenty minutes later, so yacht.de.
Orca attack in the Mediterranean: rescue for yacht “Champagne” came too late
The four sailors were evacuated and the “Champagne” was taken in tow – before reaching the port of Barbate, west of Gibraltar, however, it was clear that any help would come too late for the ship. Too much water had already run in, so that the yacht finally sank just short of the harbor until only the mast was visible.
The animals, which are often also referred to as killer whales or killer whales, can not only pose a danger to humans – other sea predators also have to beware of the meter-long orcas. Researchers film, for example, how orcas eat gigantic blue whales alive. Despite their brutality, humans and orcas are not at all dissimilar, claims author Thomas Käsbohrer in an interview with Merkur.de. (tt)
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