A POD of rogue killer whales have sunk another yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar – the fourth such incident in the past one year.
The orcas relentlessly pummeled the 50ft vessel Alboran Cognac with two people onboard on Sunday morning, the Spanish Coast Guards reported.
The ambush likely came from a notorious pod of whales led by a vengeful orca dubbed “White Gladis” which has been allegedly attacking seafarers for at least three years.
Passengers onboard the ship said they felt sudden blows to the hull of the vessel before it started sinking in the Moroccan waters.
They were rescued by a nearby oil tanker which dropped them to Gibraltar after receiving emergency alerts.
The 50ft yacht was left abandoned before it sank completely.
Orca attacks on boats travelling through the Strait of Gibraltar – also known as Orca Alley – were first reported in 2020.
These ambushes, which range from orcas simply approaching boats to actively interfering with them, have repeatedly occurred in the stretch of water between Spain and Morocco.
Authorities noticed a steady uptick in incidents and restricted boats from sailing from the tip of Spain due to a staggering 29 reported orca attacks in four months.
The Atlantic Orca Working Group has reported a 298% rise in orca-boat interactions from 2020 to 2023, Forbes reports.
They are said to be led by the vengeful killer whale White Gladis who experts fear could possibly be teaching pals how to attack and sink boats passing through the channel.
One attack took place in November last year when a killer whale gang furiously attacked and sunk a boat near a Moroccan port.
The Polish company that was operating the boat said all attempts to rescue the yacht failed before it sunk near a Moroccan port.
The operator said the crew were “safe, unharmed, and sound” following the bizarre incident.
They said in a statement: “Despite attempts to bring the yacht to the port by the captain, crew and rescuers from the SAR (Search and Rescue), port tugs and the Moroccan Navy, the unit sunk near the entrance to the port of Tanger Med.”
Another incident took place in August when a ship full of panicked tourists was attacked by these killer whales.
Footage showed the horrified holidaymakers surrounded by several orcas just off the coast of Sesimbra, Portugal.
Last year, Brit couple Janet Morris, 58, and Stephen Bidwell, 58, from Cambridge, were involved in a whale attack that lasted for a whole hour.
On May 2, around six orcas reportedly rammed the hull of the Bavaria 46 cruiser yacht they were travelling on, on the Strait of Gibraltar.
Janet and Stephen were stunned when they were alerted with the cry of “orcas!”
WHILE researchers are unsure why the killer whale has been attacking boat passion through the strait, many theories have been put forward.
Some experts suggest it could be a playful manifestation of the animal’s curiosity.
But others fear a “critical moment of agony” such as a collision may have sparked her aggression towards boats.
Alfredo López Fernandez, a biologist at the University of Aveiro in Portugal, told LiveScience: “That traumatized orca is the one that started this behaviour of physical contact with the boat.”
Some even speculate she may now be spurring fellow killer whales onto target vessels.
Orcas are the largest members of the oceanic dolphin family and are the world’s most power predators
Although they never attack humans, the deadly killers can take down large groups of whales, hence the name killer.
What makes them a unique marine mammal is that they often hunt in deadly pods and family groups of up to 40 individuals – and feast on fish, penguins seal lions – and even seals.
The carnivores can grow up to 32feet long and weigh up to six tons – and are immediately recognizable by their distinctive black-and-white colouring.
Stephen told The Telegraph: “It was an experience I will never forget.
“I kept reminding myself we had a 22-ton boat made of steel, but seeing three of them coming at once, quickly and at pace with their fins out of the water was daunting.”
Janet added: “We were sitting ducks.”
“A clearly larger matriarch was definitely around and was almost supervising,” Stephen added, furthering speculation that it was White Gladis.
The captain of the ship, Greg Blackburn, from Leeds, dropped the mainsail to make the boat feel “as boring as possible”.
The group of whales and their gang leader eventually lost interest – after causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.
All these attacks are believed to have been led by the vengeful White Gladis.
