Orcas sink tourist boat off Portuguese coast

London: A pod of killer whales rammed and sank a tourist yacht off the Portuguese coast on Saturday.

The boat from the Nautic Squad club was carrying five people when the orcas targeted it near Fonte da Telha beach. Footage shows an orca repeatedly hitting the yacht before it starts to sway and sink, prompting one person to shout: “Oh my god!”

All five crew members were rescued by nearby boats shortly before their vessel went down.

A second vessel with four people aboard also required assistance after encountering the same orcas off Cascais. No one was injured.

Orca attacks on boats off the Spanish coast have become more frequent in recent years, which some experts think is motivated by boredom.

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Sailors were warned last month not to go out at sea because of the heightened threat they posed.

In the latest incident, Portuguese national maritime authority received a distress call for the first boat at 12.30pm on Saturday (9.30pm AEST) before dispatching rescue teams.

Witnesses’ accounts of the event differed. Some said they saw four orcas, while one skipper said one whale had struck the rudder repeatedly, causing cracks that flooded the hull.

It marks the third boat sinking attributed to orcas off the Iberian peninsula. Between 2020 and 2023, at least 500 orca encounters were reported in the region, in which 20 per cent of vessels sustained damage.

The incidents began around 2019 and have increased in frequency.

Orcas typically target boat rudders in waters along the Atlantic coast of Galicia and near the Strait of Gibraltar.

Recent encounters have happened in shallower waters and busier areas.

A comment on one of the social media groups set up for sailors navigating along the Iberian coast reveals that orca rammings happen every year “in the exact same stretch”.

One commentator said: “We were terrorised every day for four weeks last year while transiting down for the Arc … Lots of damaged boats … even an airlift to hospital for one poor lady ... A very real problem.”

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Marine biologists studying the behaviour suggest the whales may be acting out of boredom or seeking physical stimulation.

The Iberian orca population numbers fewer than 50 and is considered critically endangered.

Previous sinkings include boats near Sines in 2022 and off Viana do Castelo the same year.

The latest sunken vessel’s location has been marked with buoys for possible recovery.

The Telegraph, London

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