Two sailing crews were rescued Saturday after orcas attacked their boats off the coast of Portugal, near Lisbon, Portuguese authorities said. The recent confrontations at sea are the latest in a growing pattern of incidents in recent years where orcas — also known as killer whales — ambush seafarers throughout the region.
Five people were rescued from a tourist vessel that was sailing off Fonte da Telha beach after the orcas attacked, according to Portugal’s National Maritime Authority. Another four people were found safe after a similar attack farther north along Portugal’s western coast, off the Bay of Cascais, the agency said in a news release shared on social media.
The attacks on Saturday occurred in the early afternoon, the Maritime Authority said, and no injuries were reported.
Search and rescue crews from Lisbon and the lifeguard station in Cascais responded to the incidents, after receiving alerts at around 12:30 local time, according to the Maritime Authority. When they arrived at the site of the attack off the beach of Fonte da Telha, responders found the five people had already fled their boat and moved to a different tourist vessel that offered to help.
Responders found the other four-person sailboat crew safe when they arrived at the site of that attack off the Bay of Cascais. They helped transport the boat to a port close to Lisbon, the Maritime Authority said.
Reports have circulated online that suggest the tourist vessel that was attacked off the beach of Fonte da Telha sank as a result, with video footage shared by the sailing company Mercedes-Benz Oceanic Lounge purportedly capturing the incident.
CBS News has reached out to Portugal’s National Maritime Authority for more information.
Documented interactions between orcas and humans have increased over the last several years, particularly in waters off the coasts of Spain and Portugal and around the Strait of Gibraltar, which is a narrow waterway that runs between southern Spain and Morocco.
Research group Orca Ibérica GTOA says it has recorded hundreds of so-called “interactions” with orcas and sailing vessels in that region between 2020 and 2024, including incidents where pods of killer whales repeatedly rammed, push and, in some cases, successfully turned the boats they targeted, causing damage to vessels.