Whale watchers see orca attack

SEATTLE - Whale watchers in Puget Sound caught a rare and dramatic sight from their tourist boat: orcas speeding by in attack mode and then ramming a grey whale under water.

After the grey whale dived beneath the water yesterday, the pod of attacking transient orcas followed suit.

"Everything was quiet for a minute," said Monte Hughes, captain of the Anacortes-based Mystic Sea Charters.

"Then the water went into a frenzy ... You could see the movements of the grey whale being hit underneath the water."

A short time later the grey whale surfaced, belly up, and jerked upward two or three times as it was being hit from below, he said. The orcas then took off and the grey whale eventually swam towards shallow waters.

Garrett said the grey whale, named "Patch", was later spotted swimming with other grey whales and appeared to be all right.

- AP