Five people died Saturday in New Zealand after the small charter boat they were aboard capsized, authorities say, in what may have been a collision with a whale. Another six people aboard the boat were rescued.
Police said the 8.5-metre (28-foot) boat overturned near the South Island town of Kaikoura. Police said they were continuing to investigate the cause of the accident.
Kaikoura Police Sergeant Matt Boyce described it as a devastating and unprecedented event.
“Our thoughts are with everyone involved, including the victims and their families, their local communities, and emergency services personnel,” Boyce said.
He said police divers had recovered the bodies of all those who had died. He said all six survivors were assessed to be in stable condition at a local health centre, with one transferred to a hospital in the city of Christchurch as a precaution.
Kaikoura Mayor Craig Mackle told The Associated Press that the water was dead calm at the time of the accident and the assumption was that a whale had surfaced from beneath the boat.
He said there were some sperm whales in the area and also some humpback whales travelling through.
He said locals had helped with the rescue efforts throughout the day but the mood in the town was “sombre” because the water was so cold and they feared for the outcome of anybody who had fallen overboard.
Mackle said he'd thought in the past about the possibility of a boat and whale colliding, given the number of whales that frequent the region.