SYDNEY, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Two Australian fishermen were admitted to hospital on Saturday after their boat was broadsided by a humpback whale, with the impact knocking them unconscious.
According to reports on Monday, the charter vessel with four man crew was sailing off the coast of Bowen located in the popular Whitsunday Islands region of the Australian state of Queensland when the large whale hit, with a rescue helicopter called to the scene to retrieve the injured men.
Oliver Galea, 44, was one of the those hurt - and received eight stitches in his head at the nearby Propserine Hospital as a result of the attack on the boat - which he told local media happened in a "split second."
Mark Young, a passenger on board the boat who was visiting Australia from Zambia, was knocked unconscious by the strike according to Greg Wilson, who was also on board, and said that he "hit his head on the front rail."
"Mark, the man next to me was unconscious, it all happened so fast, it was a freak accident," Wilson said.
The boat was left sporting a large dent and a blown out engine, after the collisions with the feisty humpback whale.
