The 25ft beasts pounced on the French boat off the coast of Portugal last week and relentlessly smashed into the vessel for 45 minutes before it sank.The crew were sailing north of Porto when the pod of violent killer whales circled the yacht and started ramming the boat and ripping apart the rudder.
Terrifying footage shows the 12-metre vessel rapidly filling up with water from the damage caused by the unrelenting orcas.
The water level can be seen rising to the waists of the four sailors, with their belongings floating around them.
Video showed one of the crew members lying in the flooded cabin frantically calling for help from the coastguard during the horrifying ordeal.There was a little panic that came when we realised we were going to sink," Eliott said.
"At that time, we got into the water in the life raft, with the orcas around.
"But by the time we left the boat, they were no longer there."
The four-strong crew all made it to dry land safely.
Scientists have recorded a spike in orca incidents along the Atlantic coasts of Spain and Portugal.
Sailors in the area have previously been warned to stay in port at night after shocking videos showed raging orcas trying to capsize boats.A pod of orcas — or killer whales, if you will — ganged up on an unsuspecting yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar, toyed with the vessel, and completely stripped it of its rudders.
The close encounter marks only the latest in a string of seemingly calculated orca attacks on human vessels off the coast of the Iberian Peninsula. According to Insider, there have been 20 incidents in the Strait in the past month alone.Sailing blogger April Boyes, a member of the four-person crew, captured the attack on video. Boyes said they were traveling from Azores to the Strait of Gibraltar when the attack occurred.
Boyes told Storyful that the crew initially turned off the engine after noticing a pod or orcas near the Strait of Gibraltar. The orcas then started to ram into the rudder and attacked the vessel for over an hour, destroying the rudder and piercing the hull. The crew was forced to call Spanish authorities, who rescued the crew and towed the boat back to port.
Though Boyes said the encounter was terrifying, the marine life advocate said that she does not believe in demonizing orcas. On her sailing blog. Boyes said more research could be done into these encounters and non-harmful deterrents can be put in place.
