THIS is the shocking moment a ship full of panicked tourists was attacked by a pod of killer whales.
Footage shows the horrified holidaymakers surrounded by several orcas just off the coast of Sesimbra, Portugal.
CENFootage shows orcas surrounding the boat[/caption]
An orca swimming away with a piece of the rudder after attacking a boatInstagram/@catamaranguru
In the video, a woman can be seen frantically phoning authorities on the ship and asking for help.
She told authorities: “We’re being attacked by orcas off the coast of Sesimbra. We’re about a mile from Sesimbra.”
The animals damaged the rudder causing part of it to fall off as they rammed into the ship leaving the tourists and crew helpless.
At least three orcas were seen circling the boat as crew members tried to get the boat to safety.
The woman then can be heard saying she’s “tired of calling” and that nobody is answering.
Some of the passengers were teenage boys.
No one was injured in the chilling incident as the sailboat was taken back to the port by emergency crews, according to local media.
The commander of the Maritime Police, Marco Serrano Augusto, said they knew of the incident at around 7.00pm.
Augusto added: “The boat skipper said that in 20 years of sailing, he had never interacted with orcas.”
Videos showed a crew member pouring an unknown liquid over the stern of the boat that was reportedly diesel to try and get rid of the orcas.
But Augusto went on to say there were no visible signs of pollution and warned that spilling fuel into the sea is prohibited by law.
Earlier this year, British tourists were attacked by a pod of killer whales in Morocco where six orcas caused similar damage to the boat’s rudder in an attack that lasted hours.
The huge animals can get to 26 feet long, meaning their attacks can cause thousands of pounds of damage to boats and even sink them altogether.
A three-person crew was fearful of this back in 2021 as up to 30 orcas rammed into their boat for two hours resulting in one of them swimming away with a chunk of the rudder.
The Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF) said that all sailors should turn off their engines if orcas are approaching to discourage them.
As of July, the ICNF has banned tourist vessels from actively approaching orcas, in order to avoid serious issues.
An ICNF spokesperson said: “Although the reasons for this recent and repetitive behaviour towards the vessels are unknown, it is known that the initial interactions, conducted by a small group of juvenile killer whales, are currently carried out by a broader group of animals.”
The last three years have seen the number of attacks worryingly rise.
In 2022, there were 207 interactions between orcas and boats off the coast of Portugal and Spain.
This is up from 197 in 2021 and 52 in 2020 according to GT Atlantic Orca.
The reasons for the sudden interest killer whales’ have in boats is unknown by the scientific community.
With one killer whale named White Gladis reportedly terrifying sailors around Gilbrator for the past three years with her latest attack happening in May.
CENTourists were left helpless as the killer whales rammed the boat[/caption]