A family of five, including three children aged eight, 10 and 12, escaped injury after orcas sank their yacht off the coast of Portugal. The incident occurred late on Friday, October 10, more than 55 miles south-east of Peniche.
The French-flagged 36ft yacht, named Ti’fare, was attacked by a pod of killer whales, which damaged the hull and caused the vessel to take on water. The adults sent an SOS and the family climbed into a life raft before being rescued by a nearby fishing boat, Silmar.
The Portuguese Air Force scrambled an EH-101 Merlin helicopter from Squadron 751 – ‘Pumas’, which took off from Air Base Number Six in Montijo at 8.45pm. The helicopter winched the family from the fishing vessel and transported them to hospital for a medical check-up; they were later released and are receiving support from French consular officials.
A Navy frigate and a lifeboat from the Peniche Port Authority were also deployed. The family had departed Lorient in Brittany, France, on September 29, making stops in La Coruna, Galicia and Porto before heading further south.
This is the latest in a series of orca attacks off the Iberian coast. Last month, a pod sank another yacht near Fonte da Telha beach, south of Lisbon, and attacked a second vessel, Nova Vida, which was saved by an emergency rudder. Between 2020 and 2023, around 500 orca attacks were reported, with no human injuries but damage to 20 per cent of targeted vessels.
