Boat collision with whale sends passenger overboard, kills 20-foot marine mammal
Social media video shows the boat swaying side to side upon impact with the whale, as a boater is tossed into the waters of New Jersey's Barnegat Bay. The mammal — later identified as a minke whale — can then be seen slowly swimming away from the vessel.
"Oh my God, they're going over," a witness to the incident can be heard saying in the dramatic video. "Ooh, man overboard!"
Officials said the person sent overboard is believed to be OK, CBS News reported.
The Marine Mammal Stranding Center said it was first alerted about the whale at around 2:45 p.m. on Saturday. The animal rescue service said it got a call from New Jersey State Police that said the mammal had been spotted near the inlet of Barnegat Bay.
Less than an hour later, at around 3:40 p.m., a boater in the area reported the collision, according to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center.
The mammal was later found dead in shallow water outside the channel. The whale carcass is slated to be moved on Monday morning to a nearby state park for a necropsy, the Marine Mammal Stranding Center said.
Boaters — for their own safety — have been urged to stay at least 150 feet away from the whale's remains in the meantime.
Earlier this year, a humpback whale swallowed a man on a kayak off the coast of Chile, before he was quickly able to get out of the leviathan's mouth unharmed.
The Marine Mammal Stranding Center, the U.S. Coast Guard and the NJ State Police Marine Unit did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
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