Giant Whale Attacks Boat In Australia, Injuring Tourists And Crew

A fisherman suffered a cut to his forehead and several tourists and crew members suffered other injuries after a gigantic whale reportedly bowled into their fishing boat off Australia’s north coast Saturday.

The 28-foot-long boat carrying eight passengers returned to dock in the Whitsundays off the Queensland coast when a humpback whale attacked the ship from below, jettisoning the vessel into the air.

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Five tourists and three crew members sailed on the A-One Fishing Charters boat, dubbed "The Mistress," when the attack happened.

Passengers reportedly flew in the air as well. Captain Oliver Galea, 44, recalled the attack that sent passengers flying. He said within moments, everyone fell to the ground. No one knew what caused the commotion until they spotted the whale swimming by afterward, according to the Telegraph.

"Within a split second, we all hit the floor, the boat launched up into the air and it dislodged everyone off their feet," Galea told the Telegraph Saturday. "None of us knew what happened."

"There was no sign of it. It was a very rare, freak accident," he told local news.

The blowback caused one passenger to be knocked unconscious. Crew members rushed to the man’s aid while they waited for emergency responders to arrive.

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Galea reportedly focused on getting the vessel and his passengers back to shore. He relied on just one motor to propel the ship, as the other motor suffered damage from the attack.

"All I wanted to do was get them in, and we were down to one engine because the whale knocked the other one out," he told local news.

The RACQ Central Queensland Helicopter arrived and escorted the boat back to shore, where officials transported three passengers to the Proserpine Hospital.

"I’ve hit my head on the front rail," he told 7 News. "Mark, the man next to me, was unconscious. It all happened so fast, it was a freak accident."

Medical personnel treated Mark Young, 48, of Zambia for a broken nose, while Galea received eight stitches for a head laceration. A third passenger, Greg Wilson, 31, suffered broken bones but was discharged from the hospital the next morning.

"We see whales all the time, but it's never (been) known for this sort of thing to happen," Galea said.

Galea's partner, Rachel Carpenter, shared her appreciation on social media.

"Thank you so much to the amazing people that were on board to help this afternoon with the freak accident that occurred," she wrote on Facebook.

She continued, "Thank you to the ambulance people, the VMR, the SES and all the other amazing services that helped manage the situation, the communications and organization helped make a bad situation better under the circumstances."

"The main thing is we all got home, and we have a few battle scars to show," Galea said.

He said he and the crew were "all in good spirits" after they gathered Sunday to eat the fish they caught. He added, "We all caught up on Sunday night and we have made good friends from the experience. We are all glad we made it," he said.