Australia: man dies at sea after colliding with whale

A 61-year-old man died this Saturday morning in the Sydney region, Australia. He was on board a boat when it was struck by a whale. Another person was injured in the accident, but his life is not in danger.


A whale struck a boat off the coast of eastern Australia on Saturday morning, killing one man and injuring another. The two men were on board their motorboat when it was struck and overturned early in the morning in the waters of La Perouse, 14 kilometers southeast of Sydney, police said.

People on board a second boat raised the alarm after seeing the 4.8 meter long craft unoccupied and circling, police said.

A 61-year-old man was pulled from the water unconscious and died at the scene. The 53-year-old skipper received treatment on site before being transported to hospital where he is in a stable condition. The whale approached the small runabout boat and may have hit it, water police official Siobhan Munro told public broadcaster ABC, citing a “tragic accident”.

The fatal accident took place a few kilometers from Sydney.


Humpback and Southern Right Whales can be seen along the New South Wales coast each year. They head north to warmer breeding areas during the Australian winter months, and return south between September and November.“At the moment there are a lot of whales at sea and there are a lot of examples of whales approaching boats”she added.

The accident comes less than two weeks after a four-metre humpback whale was hit in the head by a boat propeller off the coast of Western Australia.


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