Sailors rescued after orca pod rams into yacht off Spain’s coast

Rescuers noted that such incidents are 'uncommon' so far north in the Atlantic.

Two sailors were rescued in Spain by the Spanish coast guard on Monday after a pod of orcas repeatedly rammed into their yacht.

The incident took place at 2 p.m. local time, two nautical miles from the Basque coastal town of Deba in northern Spain.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the coast guard rescued the two sailors after they sent out a mayday distress call. They were both taken “safe and sound” to the port of Getaria. The pair were said to be “shocked, but unharmed.”

Rescuers noted that such incidents are “uncommon” so far north in the Atlantic and said they had not been called to assist on an orca attack in the Basque Country before.

Orcas are more active farther south in the Strait of Gibraltar, which is also referred to as “orca alley.”

Last August, a pod of orcas rammed a sailboat and bit off chunks of the ship’s rudder off the coast of northwestern Spain, prompting a bungled rescue mission that resulted in one of the boaters being seriously injured.

The attack occurred near the coast of Galicia, when two Belgian nationals sailing through the Bay of Biscay were approached by the orca pod. Similar to other attacks, the killer whales rammed the ship’s rudder, leaving the vessel immobilized.

The man and woman on board called the Spanish maritime rescue service for help and authorities deployed a rescue tugboat to their location, Reuters reported. During the towing manoeuvre, the woman seriously injured her hand and needed to be evacuated by helicopter to the hospital.