According to reports, a group of orcas attacked a sailboat off the coast of Portugal on July 31, and just hours later, they attacked another boat.
The first incident, which local media described as very much worse than usual, saw orcas ram a small sailboat with five people on board.
Local media said that the attack caused so much damage that the boat started to sink.
The crew made it onto life rafts and radioed for help. The Portuguese Navy said that a fishing vessel saved them.
A second orca attack took place a few hours after the first.
The second orca attack was on a small sailboat with two people on board.
The passengers who were sleeping at the time of the attack were on their way to the Algarve.
The Portugal Resident said that the orcas hit the boat and bit the rudder. The vehicle was taken to the dry dock.
More than 200 attacks by orcas against vessels have been recorded in Portugal and Spain.
According to a media outlet, scientists are looking into the growing number of orca attacks to see if the whales are acting out of revenge, curiosity, or something else.
In 2020, Insider reported on a series of aggressive actions by orcas along the Spanish and Portuguese coast. Experts told The Observer at the time that the killer whales could have been stressed out.
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