Killer whales attack another sailing boat off Spain, leading to a complex rescue operation in which a crew member is injured

On Sunday, orcas crashed into a sailboat off the coast of northwest Spain, damaging the rudder. A complicated rescue operation was necessary and one crew member was seriously injured, officials said. It was the latest incident in which the predators have attacked a vessel in the region.

It is not known exactly how many orcas – also known as killer whales – were involved in the attack near O Roncudo on the rocky cliffs of the Spanish province of Galicia. The Spanish maritime rescue service said two people on board the boat, named Amidala, sent a distress call to the control center at Cape Finisterre at around 4pm GMT, an area also characterized by rocky shores and rough seas at the time.

The man and woman who crewed the Amidala were not identified by name, but rescue services described them as Belgian citizens. Their boat flew the Finnish flag.

Another vessel from the Spanish Maritime Rescue Service sailed to the Amidala for hours in adverse weather conditions, including waves almost three metres high and winds of up to 65 km/h, the rescue service said. During the preparation of the towing operation, which would allow the rescue ship to slowly pull the sailboat to a port in Camariñas, the woman on board the Amidala seriously injured her hand and was airlifted back to shore. The towing operation finally ended when the sailboat docked shortly before 9:30 p.m.

Manuel Capeáns, head of the rescue coordination center at Cape Finisterre, praised the crew of the Amidala and all those involved in the rescue in a statement for successfully carrying out the operation under such harsh conditions.

Sunday’s incident is just the latest in a series of reports of orcas causing serious damage to sailing boats in Spanish waters and the surrounding region. In May a sailing yacht sunk after it was attacked by killer whales in the Strait of Gibraltar, a narrow waterway between southern Spain and Morocco. According to the Spanish Maritime Rescue Centre, the unknown number of orcas collided with the vessel carrying two people during the ordeal, causing a water leak. The crew members were rescued by a passing oil tanker.

Attacks by orcas on sailboats have apparently become more frequent in recent years. Reports of interactions between killer whales and humans have more than tripled in the past two years, according to a research group called GTOA, which documents such incidents in and around the Atlantic Iberian Peninsula.

The group said it has recorded hundreds of such interactions since 2020. However, researchers found that orca behavior in the Strait of Gibraltar and Bay of Biscay – another hotspot for interactions with killer whales – declined significantly between January and May this year compared to average levels for the same months over the past three years.

Sailors have resorted to everything from throwing sand in the water to setting off fireworks to thunderous thrash metal music to ward off invading predators.