The two crew members of the 15-meter yacht “Alborán Cognac” initially noticed dull bumps against the hull on Sunday morning, about 26 kilometers off Cape Spartel in Morocco, at the southern entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, the Spanish newspaper “El País” reported. . , the portal “20Minutos” and other media outlets on Monday, citing the Spanish Sea rescue service. The rudder blade was damaged. When water entered the boat, the sailors called a distress call.
A helicopter took off from Spain and the nearby tanker “MT Lascaux” was asked to come to the aid of the stricken ship, the newspaper wrote, citing the Ministry of Transport in Madrid. An hour after the distress call, the castaways were safely brought on board by the tanker. However, the yacht could not be salvaged and sank shortly afterwards. It was the seventh incident since 2020.
It is unclear whether these are ‘attacks’.
Experts studying the behavior of the intelligent animals believe the yacht was rammed by killer whales, part of a group of 37 marine mammals that live between the north of the Iberian Peninsula and the Strait of Gibraltar in the south, the newspaper said. further. It is not known why the orcas have repeatedly fished the boats since 2020. Although people always talk about ‘attacks’, researchers prefer to talk about ‘interactions’ because the reason for this behavior of killer whales, which is only observed in this part of the sea, is not known. So it’s possible that the animals just wanted to play. But it can also be a reaction to a negative experience with a ship.