A boat crashed into a whale off the Jersey Shore on Saturday afternoon, resulting in the death of the 20-foot-long animal and causing one passenger to be thrown overboard.
Social media footage shows the boat rocking from side to side upon impact with the whale, leading to a boater being tossed into the waters of New Jersey’s Barnegat Bay. The whale, later identified as a minke whale, can be seen swimming away slowly from the boat.
“Oh my God, they’re going over,” a witness can be heard saying in the dramatic video. “Ooh, man overboard!”
According to reports, the individual who fell overboard is believed to be unharmed.
The Marine Mammal Stranding Center was alerted about the incident around 2:45 p.m. on Saturday after New Jersey State Police spotted the whale near the Barnegat Bay inlet.
Less than an hour later, a boater in the area reported the collision, confirming the tragic event.
The minke whale was later found dead in shallow water outside the channel. The carcass is scheduled to be moved to a nearby state park for a necropsy on Monday morning.
Boaters have been advised to stay at least 150 feet away from the whale’s remains for their own safety.
Earlier this year, a humpback whale in Chile accidentally swallowed a man on a kayak, but he managed to escape unharmed.
Authorities such as the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the NJ State Police Marine Unit have not yet responded to requests for comment.
