One Canadian woman is dead and two other tourists injured after a whale jumped aboard a snorkeling boat off the coast of Mexico on March 11.
The boat contained 23 tourists from all over the world. It was travelling back from a snorkeling outing near Baja California Sur, off Mexico’s Pacific coast.
The exact details of the event are still unclear. Local firefighters report that the grey whale jumped and landed on the boat and that the impact threw the woman into the water.
The tour company, however, says that the woman was injured when the boat’s captain was forced to make a sharp turn to avoid hitting the whale.
The woman and two other passengers were taken to hospital where she later died. The condition of the other two victims is unknown.
Grey whales of this type can reach a length of 50 meters and a weight of 36 tonnes.
In recent months, the number of whales off the coast of Mexico has increased dramatically.
Mexican authorities report that up to 2500 animals have gathered in the bays and lagoons surrounding Baja California Sur. Many of these are pregnant females who birth their calves in the region.
This is the second boating accident involving a whale in this region in the last year. In July, a whale overturned a sightseeing boat off the coast of California.
Authorities have not yet released the name of the woman killed.
Image Courtesy: Wikipedia Media Commons
