A nightmare in the middle of the Strait of Gibraltar. Four passengers of a sailboat were sailing peacefully, on May 24, 2023, on the strait... until a group of orcas approached the ship and targeted it, with violent charges in the sailboat's rudder and hull. "The force of these blows turned the helm violently and you could feel the vibrations through the deck," said April Boyes, one of the four seasoned sailors on board, who filmed the incident. The attack lasted more than an hour.
Read alsoVIDEO. "An hour under the blows": the fear of skipper Sébastien Destremau attacked by a group of orcas
Despite attempts to ward off or calm the aggressive cetaceans, including shutting down the boat's engine, the charges destroyed the rudder and pierced the boat's hull. "We need immediate help," two passengers repeated (and shouted) to the Spanish authorities, as water rushed into the ship. We're sinking! We're sinking"
A helicopter and a rapid response boat were dispatched to rescue them. The passengers are safe and sound and the damaged sailboat has been towed to port.
This incident is not isolated: a few days earlier, the boat of the French skipper Sébastien Destremau had been attacked in the same way. About twenty such interactions between boats and orcas took place this month, according to the GTOA research group, which tracks the population of Iberian orcas.
Several theories explain these behaviors. Some believe that orcas are actually trying to play with boats. According to others, an orca traumatized by a ship strike, nicknamed Gladis, would teach young orcas her techniques to attack boats.
