MENACING Orcas sank another tourist yacht off the coast of Portugal.
Portuguese Air Force was mobilised to rescue a family of five from a yacht that went down in the waters after being repeatedly rammed by a pod of killer whales.
The Air Force EH-101 Merlin helicopter was activated to rescue five people who were on board a vessel[/caption]
The fishing boat that was repeatedly rammed by a pod of orcas[/caption]
Three children aged eight, ten and 12 were on board the French-flagged 36ft-long yacht, named locally as Ti’fare, with their mum and dad when it was attacked.
The parents managed to send an SOS and get into a life raft before the vessel, said to have been left with a breached hull after being rammed, started sinking.
A Peniche-based fishing boat called Silmar responded to the alert as the military was mobilised.
The rescue was confirmed yesterday by the Portuguese Air Force, which posted footage of the moment the survivors were airlifted from the fishing boat.
A spokesman said: “The Air Force’s EH-101 Merlin helicopter was called into action to rescue five people who were on board a boat sailing more than 50 km from Peniche.
“The sailboat, carrying a couple and their three children, was attacked by a group of killer whales, which damaged the vessel, causing it to take on water.
“After the incident, the five people abandoned the vessel using a life raft and were later picked up by a fishing boat that was in the vicinity.
“To support the rescue mission, the Air Force activated the EH-101 Merlin helicopter from Squadron 751 – ‘Pumas’.
“Once the rescue was successfully completed, the Air Force helicopter returned the base.”
The family at the centre of the latest orca attack had reportedly left the town of Lorient in Brittany, western France, to travel further south.
They are understood to now be receiving support from French consular officials after being allowed to leave the hospital.
It comes less than a month after a pod of killer whales sank a tourist yacht off the coast of Portugal in yet another dangerous attack.
The sailboat carrying five people went down after orcas repeatedly rammed the hull of the vessel near Fonte da Telha beach.
Footage shows an orca repeatedly striking the sailboat which belonged to the Nautic Squad Club.
After several blows, the vessel can be seen tilting dangerously from side to side before slowly submerging and sinking to the bottom.
The five people aboard the Nautic Squad boat were rescued while nearby vessels tried unsuccessfully to tow it to safety.
In July, a pack of killer whales struck in the Atlantic after nearly capsizing a yacht and leaving a helpless crew fearing for their lives.
The terrifying encounter, said to be linked to the bloodthirsty White Gladis pod, took place two miles north of the Spanish town of Deba.
And in July of last year, a Brit yachtsman posted video footage of his boat sinking after it was attacked by orcas.
Last year, Brit couple Janet Morris, 58, and Stephen Bidwell, 58, from Cambridge, were involved in a whale attack that lasted for an hour.
The orcas off the Iberian coast often average between 16ft to 21ft in length.
They are considerably smaller than orcas in Antarctica who can reach over 29ft.
The attacks tend to happen between May and August but researchers don’t believe they are often aggressively commited.
Instead, some orcas may disrupt boats out of sheer boredom.
Other experts fear that one main culprit may be teaching other orcas how to strike.
Why do orcas attack boats?
WHILE researchers are unsure exactly why killer whales have been attacking boats so often lately, many theories have been put forward.
Some experts suggest it could be a playful manifestation of the animals’ curiosity.
But others fear a “critical moment of agony” such as a collision may have sparked aggression towards boats.
Alfredo López Fernandez, a biologist at the University of Aveiro in Portugal, told LiveScience: “That traumatized orca is the one that started this behaviour of physical contact with the boat.”
Some even speculate White Gladis may now be spurring fellow killer whales on.
Orcas are the largest members of the oceanic dolphin family.
Although they never attack humans, the apex predators can take down large groups of whales, hence the name killer.
What makes them a unique marine mammal is that they often hunt in lethal pods and family groups of up to 40 individuals – and feast on fish, dolphins, seal lions, seals, sharks and stingrays.
The carnivores can grow up to 32ft long and weigh up to six tons – and are immediately recognizable by their distinctive black-and-white colouring.
