A breaching whale came out of the water at the wrong place and ended up sinking a fire crew\u2019s rescue boat.<\/p>\n
Carteret Fire Department Chief Eric Wahl told ABC News<\/a> that he and his crew were going about seven or eight knots when \u201call of a sudden, there was this loud bang.\u201d <\/p>\n The bang was a whale that was surfacing.<\/p>\n The animal tore a large hole in the back wall of the vessel, allowing water to rush in. <\/p>\n \u201cWe grabbed what we could. We sounded our distress signals,\u201d Wahl said. <\/p>\n Within moments, the rescue boat sank, and the firecrew needed rescuing themselves. <\/p>\n \u201cThe three guys were in their life jackets, and we managed to get them on board,\u201d Cody Binkley said. <\/p>\n No one was hurt, Fox News<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n Civilians told the first responders that they had seen a pod of whales surface in the area about 30 seconds to a minute before the fire crew arrived. <\/p>\n Sara Morris, the executive director of Shoals Marine Laboratory, said the whale probably accidentally hit their boat. <\/p>\n \u201cI think the boat was in the wrong place at the wrong time, not something where the whale was specifically targeting a boat,\u201d Morris told ABC News<\/a>.<\/p>\n