A minke whale died off the north-eastern US after a collision that nearly tipped over a small boat and threw a person overboard.
Social media video of the collision in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, on Saturday afternoon shows the motorboat rocking after the impact and the six-metre whale splashing near the craft before swimming away.
The person thrown overboard manages to tread water next to the boat. The whale was found dead after it came to rest on a sandbar in shallow water.
Marine authorities were not able to get close to the whale due to tidal conditions, according to the Marine Mammal Stranding Centre, a not-for-profit rescue, rehabilitation and release organisation.
“At this point, we really don’t have much to go on,” Jay Pagel, stranding coordinator at the centre, said on Sunday.
“The side of the animal that we were able to observe had no obvious marks on it that we could see. But again, our visibility was very limited.”
Pagel said there were reports the whale had injuries prior to the collision, captured on video. He noted there was a second video posted online that appears to show the whale making contact with a pontoon boat after the initial collision.
The animal will be towed to a state park for a necropsy to determine the cause of death.
