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02/25/2022
We at Pantaenius | News
Orcas ahoy!
Since 2020, the number of sightings and incidents involving killer whales off the Spanish and Portuguese coasts have increased.
Recently, our Mallorca claims team received an unusual report of a pod of orcas attacking a 38 foot sailing yacht off the coast of Barbate in South-West Spain. Attacks of these kind are not at all common so close to the Mediterranean.
However, we have been informed that both the Spanish Coast Guard and the local Oceanographic Center are well aware of these mischievous pods of cetaceans, and have issued a safety protocol for anyone coming across them, which includes turning off the engine, removing hands from the steering wheel and moving away from any parts of the boat that can fall down or swing sideways.
These may seem obvious precautions. However, when one suddenly sights these magnificent creatures nearing your boat, they may not immediately come to mind as you perhaps would not expect them to attack you. Our client got off lightly after a pod of four aggressive orcas measuring around 8 m in length, closed in and repeatedly impacted against the bottom of his boat. After the attack, which lasted around 20 minutes, they sailed into port as they fortunately still had steering, to later discover the orcas had broken off a large section of the rudder blade!
For full details of the safety protocol, please visit www.orcaiberica.org