Whales groping boats make visitors break their ribs

A humpback whale has crashed into a ship carrying tourists off Australia, causing many people to be injured.

On August 5, a ship carrying five tourists and three sailors were on their way back to the land after a fishing trip near the Whitsunday Islands (Australia) when a whale was rammed. The strong impact caused the 8.5m long boat to bounce into the air and two people lost consciousness.

Captain Oliver Galea had to sew 8 stitches on his forehead. He said the whale abruptly appeared under the boat and rammed hard: 'The whale tossed the ship into the air with a turn, making all of them fall out in an instant. This is not something that often happens, the probability is very low. It happened so fast, we didn't even know what we bumped into, until we saw the whale behind. '

An adult humpback whale can weigh nearly 40 tons.

A passenger must be hospitalized due to severe facial injuries. One person had a broken rib and one had a broken nose. Vice Admiral Rachel Carpenter, who was not on board, said that no one was killed was a miracle: 'More bad situations can happen. They were very lucky when the boat was not flipped and no one fell into the water. '

The Whitsundays Islands are considered whale breeding grounds due to the warm shore waters. The Australian Ministry of Environmental Resources recommends: 'These large and unpredictable animals can emerge from the water, stumble or jump out of the water unexpectedly around boats. The ships have to constantly observe, because they can approach and knock on the ship whether they have to get out of the way or out of the collision range. If there is a risk of unsafety due to whale behavior, the vessel should immediately decelerate and stay away from the whale. '

Whale-related accidents are rare, mainly due to the fact that ships arrive too close to them (90 meters by experts). In 2003, a three-year-old child was killed when humpback whales collided with a boat while sightseeing in Hawaii, USA.

Whale is about 12m long disoriented, lost to the harbor, where the yacht is anchored.