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Two fishers were rescued on Tuesday after a whale breached and capsized their boat off the shore of New Hampshire, according to the US Coast Guard.
In a series of statements posted on X, the Coast Guard said that they received a mayday call stating that a 23ft center console boat had capsized due to a whale breach near Odiorne Point state park in Rye, New Hampshire.
The agency said that an urgent marine information broadcast was issued and that the Coast Guard Station Portsmouth Harbor was directed to launch.
Both of the boaters were rescued from the water by a good samaritan, the Coast Guard said, adding that no injuries were reported. The whale also appeared not to be injured by the incident, the agency said, and the boat was salvaged.
A video of the incident, taken by nearby boaters, quickly made rounds online. In the video, the boaters can be seen falling into the water after the whale crashes into their vessel, capsizing it.
A breaching whale landed on and capsized a boat Tuesday in Portsmouth Harbor, New Hampshire. Everyone, including the whale, were unharmed. pic.twitter.com/fmo7ckzTAS
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 23, 2024
The viral video of the breach was taken by Colin Yager, who said that he and his brother, Wyatt, who were fishing nearby, were the ones who rescued the boaters, according to local news station WMUR-TV.
The brothers described watching the whale crash into the other fishing boat.
“I saw it come up, and I was just like, ‘Oh no, it’s going to hit the boat!’ and then it started to flip,” Wyatt Yager told WMUR-TV.
The boaters themselves told WMUR-TV, that they had seen the whale earlier in the day and had been trying to keep their distance.
The whale “disappeared for a few minutes, and then the next thing we know, he just popped right up on our transom”, fisher Greg Paquette told WMUR-TV. “His mouth was open, he was just looking to feed.”
“Everything seemed like in slow motion. It was really weird,” fisher Ryland Kenney said. “Everyone was like, ‘Oh, it was eight seconds. How’d you move so fast?’ But it was almost slow motion, like a movie.”
The incident was reported to the Center of Coastal Studies’ marine animal hotline and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, according to the Coast Guard.
Local News
A New Hampshire woman is accused of violating the state’s Civil Rights Act four times after she allegedly shot at a man because he was Black, prosecutors said.
Diane Durgin, 67, of Weare, N.H. could face up to a $5,000 fine for each violation she is found to have committed, the office of New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said in a press release Tuesday.
Durgin is also charged with criminal threatening against a person with a deadly weapon and attempted first degree assault with a deadly weapon, Michael Garrity, a media representative for the New Hampshire Attorney General, said in an emailed statement to Boston.com.
Durgin had a final pre-trial conference last week, Garrity said.
In a civil complaint filed Tuesday, Durgin is accused of threatening physical force against the victim, the AG said. Prosecutors asked the court to issue a preliminary injunction barring Durgin from repeating her alleged behavior and from contacting the victim and his family.
During the morning hours of Oct. 20, 2024, the victim claims, he “mistakenly” drove to Durgin’s home after a prearranged purchase of a truck part with a seller online, prosecutors wrote as part of their request for an injunction.
When the man — whom prosecutors identified in court documents as X.G. — arrived, Durgin allegedly stepped out of her home and approached his car with a gun “holstered by her waist,” prosecutors wrote.
Upon noticing that X.G. was Black, Durgin allegedly “removed her gun and pointed it at X.G.,” prosecutors said in the injunction request.
While X.G. explained that he was lost, Durgin called the victim a “Black mother[expletive],” and threatened to “kill him,” prosecutors allege.
As the victim attempted to drive away, Durgin allegedly took her gun and fired two shots at the fleeing man’s car, missing both times, the AG’s office said.
While on the phone with a dispatcher, Durgin allegedly said she shot the man’s car because the victim is Black, the AG said.
“The guy is Black. And he, he…he says he’s meeting someone here and I think he’s coming here to steal,” Durgin allegedly said.
Police located X.G. and brought him to the Weare Police Department, stopping along the way at the correct seller’s home to complete the truck part purchase, prosecutors wrote in court documents.
To prove a violation of the New Hampshire Civil Rights Act, the AG must show that Durgin “interfered or attempted to interfere with the rights of the victim to engage in lawful activities by threatening to engage in or actually engage in physical force or violence, when such actual or threatening conduct was motivated by race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, or disability,” prosecutors said.
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Streets of Portsmouth after snow storm
The streets of Portsmouth are still in the process of being cleaned up, as seen the afternoon of Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, following a huge snow storm.
It may be March, but winter in New Hampshire is far from over. Just one week after a blizzard tore through the state with heavy snow and high winds, the state is getting another round of snowfall.
The state will get three to five inches during the evening and night of Tuesday, March 3, says the National Weather Service (NWS) of Gray, Maine. While the accumulation will not be significant, the snowfall may cause dangerous road conditions and a layer of ice on the ground in certain parts of the state.
Here’s what to know before tonight’s snow in New Hampshire, including snow totals and timing.
According to the NWS, it will start snowing in New Hampshire during mid-afternoon or early evening and continue through the night. Specifically, snow will arrive to the southern part of the state around 2-3 p.m., spreading northwards through the rest of New Hampshire by 5 p.m.
Rain or freezing rain will mix in later this evening across southern New Hampshire, creating a wintry mix. All precipitation should move out of the state by midnight.
Due to the timing of today’s snowfall, the Tuesday evening commute will be affected, with the NWS warning to slow down and exercise caution while driving.
New Hampshire will get one to four inches of snow tonight, with one to two inches in northern New Hampshire, two to three inches in southern New Hampshire and three to four inches in the center of the state, with the possibility for five inches in localized areas.
In the Seacoast specifically, Portsmouth, Rye, Hampton and York are expected to get between two to three inches of snow, while Dover, Exeter and Rochester may get up to four.
The wintry mix may also cause a light glaze of ice across southern New Hampshire.
The NWS has issued a winter weather advisory for the state of New Hampshire, in effect from 1 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3 through 4 a.m. on Wednesday, March 4.
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