One man is dead and another hospitalized after a whale allegedly struck and capsized their boat in Sydney, Australia on Saturday morning, The Guardian reported.
At around 6am local time, New South Wales (NSW) Water Police responded to reports of a boat “going in circles with no one on board” and two people in the water, per the outlet.
NSW Police said one of the men, 61, was unconscious on arrival. After he was pulled out of the water, attempts to revive the man were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead, writes The Guardian.
With the help of witnesses, the second man and the ship’s manager, 53, were transferred to the nearby ramp where he was assisted by an ambulance, the newspaper said. When his condition stabilized, he was taken to the hospital.
The boat has been found and will undergo a forensic examination, reports CNN.
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According to The Guardian, police were informed that the men’s boat was likely struck or otherwise struck by the breaching whale, tilting the vessel and causing the men to go overboard.
NSW Water Police Acting Superintendent Siobhan Munro got first-hand information about the collision from her initial conversation with the skipper, who was in shock, according to the outlet.
“Initial reports are that the whale may have breached near the boat or onto the boat,” she told reporters.
According to her, the two men could have been in the water for up to 45 minutes.
“The captain stayed as close as he could to the deceased and did everything he could to keep her afloat until the police arrived,” Munro said.
Botany Bay in Australia, near where the incident took place.
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It is still not clear what type of whale was involved in the collision, but Munro said there were more whales than usual in Australian waters at the moment, writes The Guardian.
“There are a lot of whales right now,” she told reporters after the incident. “Stories of whales breaching ships are not unheard of.”
Jihad Dib, NSW’s emergency services minister, called the crash “an absolutely freak accident” and NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley called it a “horribly tragic accident”, The Guardian reported.
“It’s very early stages and there are very few details … at this point,” Catley said at a news conference. “We understand that one person has passed away and our deepest condolences go out to the family of that deceased person.”
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According to CNN, the incident occurred on the first day of National Safe Boating Week in Australia, and one of the primary focuses of the initiative is life jackets.
It was not clear whether the two men were wearing flotation devices, the paper reported.
“It’s a stark reminder of the boating season and how dangerous it can be on our waterways,” Munro said of the incident, according to CNN.
The acting chief also assured reporters that authorities “will be there on waterways, including rivers [and] dams, doing compliance checks, drug and alcohol testing and everything we do to make sure the community is safe.”
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Source: HIS Education