A whale caused a boat to sink off Australia’s east coast in the early hours of Saturday, killing one man and injuring another.
The two men were fishing from a speedboat that capsized in the waters off La Perouse, 14 kilometers southeast of Sydney, about 6 a.m. (9 p.m. Friday in Lisbon), police said.
The first man was pulled unconscious from the water and died on the spot. The second was treated by emergency services and is in a stable condition at St. George Hospital.
“Early indications are that they have been in the water for 45 minutes,” a maritime police officer told Australian public television ABC.
A whale approached or possibly hit the small boat, 4.8 meters long, said Siobhan Munro, describing the case as a “tragic accident”.
“Right now there are a lot of whales in the sea and there are many examples of whales approaching boats,” he added.
Police and Anti-Terrorism Minister Yasmin Catley called the event a “clear warning” of the dangers of navigation.
The acting director of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority emphasized the importance of safe navigation practices, which can “make the difference between life and death on the water”.
“Life jackets and emergency transmitters significantly increase the chances of survival in navigation incidents,” explains Shontelle Chamtaprieo, recalling last year’s “terrible time” that resulted in 48 deaths.
This accident comes less than two weeks after a four-metre long whale was struck in the head by a ship’s propeller off the west coast of Australia.
In July, the Portuguese Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF) banned maritime tourist vessels from actively approaching groups of killer whales.
According to the ICNF, interactions between killer whales and vessels, mostly sailboats, have been recorded in the area of the Strait of Gibraltar, the Portuguese coast and Galicia (Spain) since 2020, something that has already led to the sinking of at least two ships.
“It is known that the initial interactions carried out by a small group of young killer whales are currently being carried out by a larger group of animals,” the ICNF explains.
The institute warns that, given the size of the adults (up to eight to nine meters long and three to five tons in weight), the more intense interaction of killer whales with semi-rigid vessels or other types of smaller vessels, such as Because they are used for the observation of cetaceans, they can have more serious consequences.
The institute stipulates that in cases where the orcas try to approach, the vessels must leave and that whenever the animals come close to the boats without the crew noticing, the vessel must be stopped and the engine running.
Source: DN
