ARCHIVED - Killer whales attack another sailing boat in the Strait of Gibraltar

The crew were rescued after they brought down the sails and allowed the boat to drift off the Andalusia coastline

The crew of a sailing boat were rescued from the Strait of Gibraltar on Thursday after their craft was attacked by a pod of four killer whales or orcas in rough sea conditions, with waves reaching heights of 2 metres.

It is reported that in the early hours of the morning the crew obeyed by the established safety protocols in such circumstances, bringing down the sails and switching off the engine of the 10-metre boat before allowing it to drift. The rescue vessel Salvamar Enif was dispatched to the scene and brought them safely ashore in Barbate, in the province of Cádiz.

The latest incident follows others late last month in which two boats were attacked off the coast of Cádiz, to the west of the Strait of Gibraltar, and it is thought highly possible that the same individuals were involved. In other attacks last summer whales targeted the rudders of medium-sized boats and investigators concluded that all of the incidents related to a specific group of juveniles, one of which had substantial scarring that appeared to have been caused by some sort of impact contact, probably with the rudder of a vessel.

The presence of killer whales in the waters off the Spanish coast is nothing new; the Galicia coastline is renowned for its rich fishing grounds and marine life, shoals of migratory fish moving along its coast attracting hungry predators, a natural cycle which is repeated year after year, as shoals of tuna transit the Atlantic coast pursued by orcas.

Last summer there were various sightings of orcas, which can reach lengths of up to 8 metres and weigh as much as 6 tons, in the Mediterranean, and it was hypothesized that they may have been straying from their usual hunting grounds in and around the Strait of Gibraltar due to an increase in the number of bluefin tuna in the western Mediterranean.

Image: Salvamento Marítimo