Whale sinks fishing boat off Evans Head
Whale breached, hull breached, boat sank, men rescuedTwo anglers were lucky to survive a humpback whale encounter after the massive cetacean breached, smashed into their boat, and split the hull in two.
The Lismore locals were fishing at North Evans Head Reef, a good five kilometres from the entrance of Evans River, when the wild accident occurred.
Marine Rescue NSW has confirmed that a boat split in half and rapidly sank after hitting a whale off Evans Head around 6am on Sunday morning (October 2).
The whale reportedly shattered the hull of the boat, which immediately took on water and sank, reports Evans Heads News.
The two men were wearing lifejackets and were quickly picked up by a nearby fisherman who witnessed the incident.
Record numbers of humpback whales are migrating along the Eastern Seaboard at present between the tropics and more temperate waters.
The incident has prompted warnings for fishers and pleasure-boat users to log their trips with Marine Rescue NSW. This can now be more easily done with the advent of the free Marine Rescue phone app at the App Store.
More about the 20,000 whales migrating along the NSW and Queensland coasts in this boating article.
Photo Credit: Second pic by RMarine Crawley.
Tags
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
