Whale capsizes boat off coast of New Hampshire

Two boaters were rescued from the water after a whale breached and slammed into their vessel off the coast of Rye, New Hampshire Tuesday morning.

The two men were off the coast of Odiorne Point State Park when the Coast Guard received a mayday alert. Both were ejected from their boat but were rescued by “good samaritans” and were uninjured, the Coast Guard said.

In a video that went viral Tuesday, a large breaching whale lands on the stern of a small boat, making it capsize. One of the occupants can be seen falling from the boat before it crashes into the water. 

The boat’s two occupants, Greg Paquette and Ryland Kenney, called the experience “harrowing” in an interview with WHDH. 

They told the news station they were out in the boat around 7:30 a.m. when the whale hit them. Paquette said he ended up under the boat when his life jacket inflated. 

“I’ll tell you, we were lucky, we were really lucky,” he told Channel 7.

The pair were rescued by two teen boys who also filmed the incident, WCVB reported. Wyatt Yager, 19, and his brother Colin, 16, were fishing when they caught the crash on video.

“It was very chaotic, it all happened so fast,” Wyatt told Boston.com “It was a very unique experience, and I hope it never happens again.”

The whale appeared to be uninjured from the incident, the Coast Guard said.

The Coast Guard thanked the teens for their quick actions and reminded boaters to report all whale sightings to their local command centers. 

“We are grateful to the good samaritans for taking such quick action to rescue these two individuals,” they wrote on X. “Bravo Zulu!”