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A pod of killer whales repeatedly rammed a yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar this week, damaging it enough to require Spanish rescuers to come to the aid of its four crew members.
It was the latest episode in a perplexing trend in the behavior of orcas populating the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula that has left researchers searching for a cause.
Spain's Maritime Rescue service said that killer whales repeatedly ran into the Mustique, a 65-foot vessel sailing under a U.K. flag, late on Wednesday, rendering its rudder inoperative and cracking its hull. Spanish rescuers needed to pump out seawater before towing her to safety.
The alert reached the Spanish service via their British counterparts, who had relayed on the distress call, the Spanish service said. A helicopter and a rescue boat were deployed to help the damaged boat to dock in Barbate.
This was the 24th such incident registered by the service this year. The service didn't provide data from last year.
But the Atlantic Orca Working Group, a team of Spanish and Portuguese marine life researchers who study killer whales near the Iberian Peninsula, says that these incidents were first reported three years ago. In 2020, the group registered 52 such events, some of which resulted in damaged rudders. That increased to 197 in 2021 and to 207 in 2022.
There have been no reports of attacks against swimmers. The interactions on boats seem to stop once the vessel becomes immobilized.
Biologist Alfredo Lopez, of the University of Aveiro and member of the research group, said that the incidents are rare -- and enticingly odd.
"In none of the cases that we have been able to see on video have we witnessed any behavior that could be considered aggressive," Lopez told The Associated Press by phone on Friday. "They appear calm, nothing at all like when they are on the hunt."