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The pod of killer whales known as Gladys struck again over the weekend, sinking another yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar.
This is the first shipwreck caused by whale sabotage this year, after whale sabotage behavior appeared to subside and was first recorded in May 2020.
The Spanish Coast Guard reported that two crew members on the sailboat “Alboran Cognac” sent out an SOS distress signal at 9 am on Sunday, and an emergency rescue operation was immediately launched.
Crew members reported that the killer whale had struck their vessel in Moroccan waters near Tangier, at the southern entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar.
Before it sank, the yacht had five cabins, bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room, and could accommodate up to 12 people.
The orcas were so adept at sabotaging yachts that they targeted the rudders, leaving crew members increasingly stranded at sea.
But it was only after the 15-meter-long ship was hit that the situation became more serious.
The Coast Guard scrambled a helicopter and asked a nearby tanker, the MT Lascaux, to divert to rescue the damaged sailboat.
As the vessel began to take on significant amounts of water, Moroccan maritime authorities instructed the Alboran Cognac to don life jackets and activate the AIS (Automatic Identification System).
read more: Killer whales sink yacht off Spanish coast: Passengers attacked by killer whales for 45 minutes
The strait is one of the world’s busiest sea passages, and although seven ships have been sunk by pods of killer whales passing through the area, the crews have always been rescued before encountering the top predators on the high seas.
Within an hour of the distress signal being sent, the two crew members were safely transferred to the MT Lascaux and taken to Gibraltar.
The Alborán Cognac was abandoned and drifted at sea until it eventually sank.
Gladys is the name of a pod of 15 killer whales that often appear in the dreams of sailors on sailboats, catamarans and fishing boats in the channel.
Marine biologists have been at pains to stress that seemingly aggressive behaviour patterns among whales are not actually attacks, but rather “learned behaviour” for fun.
The threat of encounters with killer whales is thought to be heightened between April and August due to an influx of bluefin tuna into the area.
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