New Hampshire
Two fishers rescued off New Hampshire after whale capsizes their boat
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.