Orcas sink yet another boat off coast of Portugal

Yet another sailing boat was sunk yesterday, around 90 kms southwest of Peniche, as a result of an ‘orca attack’.

This time, three children were among the five crew members rescued from French boat, TI´FARE.

The boat sent out a Mayday message late yesterday afternoon, picked up by MRCC Lisboa (maritime search and rescue) which dispatched an Air Force helicopter, a Naval frigate (D. Francisco de Almeida) and a lifeboat from Peniche rescue station.

A fishing boat in the area also went to the TI’FARE’s aid,  and it was this vessel that reached the crew members first, all of them already in a life-raft.

This will have been a terrifying ordeal for the five: two adults (a French man and Portuguese woman), plus the three children.

Conversations with adults who have been in similar situations showed that there will have been real fear for their lives. No-one knows in attacks like these if the orcas will turn their attention from the sailing boat (or rather, the rudder of the sailing boat, as this is always their focus), to the liferaft. But this far, this has not happened.

According to an online post by the Navy, the five rescued were eventually transported by the Air Force helicopter to Montijo air base, and from there they were taken to a hospital.

This is the fourth sinking of a sailboat in very similar situations since 2022. Orca ‘interactions’ started becoming a hazard around the time of the pandemic. No-one appears to understand why this is happening (there are multiple theories); authorities have given advice – but very little appears to be improving. It is only a few weeks since the last sinking, and this month has already seen ‘attacks’ in Cascais, Viana do Castelo and Vila do Conde.

Various Facebook groups share these stories, give tips and try to make sense of what is happening. Regarding this latest sinking, the consensus is that some boats simply have rudders that are not tough enough. Sailors stress that the solution may well be to “buy better boats”: orcas are part of the sea, and the boats that are going down, may simply not be sea-worthy enough…

Sources: Marinha Portuguesa/ Lusa/ Orca Attack – Iberia (Facebook)