Two men in a small boat off the coast of New Jersey found themselves knocked overboard after a sizeable humpback whale breached and slammed into the water.
What’s going on:
- Witnesses said a humpback whale breached and it led to a small boat getting hit. The boat knocked two men over. They swam to the shore. The whale swam away.
- Bob Schoelkopf, the director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, told NJ.com: “The whale did what whales usually do — they’re looking for food, and they don’t pay attention. It breached the boat and knocked it out of the water.”
- Researchers plan to take a DNA sample from the underside of the boat, according to NJ.com.
- Police said there were no injuries from the moment. The whale also appeared to be fine, per ABC 7 New York.
What it looked like
The Friends of Seaside Park Facebook page posted a photo of the breached boat, which is leaning against the shore out of commission.
The post read:
For those asking, both occupants are okay they were both thrown from the boat. The 🐋 whale kept swimming and breaching. From our view, the whale is totally fine. Appeared to be a humpback.
For those asking for a time frame, it happened around 11:50 am and it was on the trailer at around 3:30pm.
The event reportedly occurred on World Ocean’s Day.