Two fishermen had to leap from their boat Tuesday afternoon when a whale breached and fell on top of the vessel, flipping it onto its side.
A video posted to Instagram shows a whale breaching next to the power boat and landing on its stern, causing it to flip near Odiorne State Park in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The video was captured from a nearby boat.
Two brothers from Maine, Colin, 16, and Wyatt Yager, 19, shot the video on Tuesday and then rescued the fishermen who fell from the overturned boat.
The Yagers were out fishing when they first noticed the whale, which appeared to be interested in the striped bass they were fishing for. They did their best to stay a safe distance from the whale, they said.
Two brothers from Maine caught this video of a whale breaching on top of another vessel in Portsmouth Harbor. The fishermen in the other boat were rescued safely. pic.twitter.com/D1KTYYr4f6
— WMUR TV (@WMUR9) July 23, 2024
Colin took out his phone and started filming, hoping to catch the whale breaching. But they were shocked when it emerged right next to a nearby boat and fell across its stern. The two fishermen leapt from the boat as the whale struck it.
“Neither of us had ever seen anything like that before,” said Colin. “We were just completely in shock for a second or two.”
Wyatt drove the boat over and helped the two fishermen out of the water. Just one was wearing a life jacket, but they both appeared to be uninjured.
“One of them had a life jacket and the other didn’t; he said he was holding on to the other guy’s life jacket. They said they were happy to have that one because it could have gone south otherwise,” said Wyatt.
“They seemed to be in good spirits and were OK,” said Colin.
The Yagers dropped the fisherman off and spoke with the Coast Guard, which arrived shortly after they’d pulled the fishermen out of the water. After they went home they saw videos of the Coast Guard retrieving the overturned boat from the water.
“It was a nice day, the water was calm, nobody would have expected to flip over today,” said Wyatt. He said it was a good reminder to always wear a life jacket and be safe in the water.
The whale appeared to be uninjured and the capsized boat has been salvaged, the Coast Guard wrote in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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