Pictured: Fishermen left with nasty injuries after whale slams into Queensland boat
A fishing charter operator has been left with a huge gash in his head, and one of his passengers remains in hospital after being knocked out by a whale in a freak accident in The Whitsundays on the weekend.
A-One Fishing Charters captain Oliver Galea shared photos of the damage done by his boat's encounter with the huge whale.
He was on a charter with three other men when a whale slammed into their boat, knocking Zambian tourist Mark Young unconcious. Mr Young remains in Proserpine Hospital in a stable confition.
Mr Galea, 44, was also taked to the hospital, requiring eight stitches for a large wound to his head after he collided with the front rail on the boat.
The other two on board were treated for minor injuries.
"Oops, few stitches coming," he captioned one of the photos he posted to Facebook.
Mr Galea suffered a large gash to the head, requiring eight stitches. Source: Facebook
He added more photos as he progressed through the treatment process.
One showed the wound being held open to display how big and deep the cut is and another shows it all stitched up and fixed.
The RACQ Cental Queensland Helicopter was called to rescue the four men after the incident on Saturday, off the coast of Bowen.
Mr Galea was one of four on the boat. Source: Facebook
Mr Galea had blood gushing down his face. Source: Facebook
No one knew the cause of the impact until they spotted the whale moving away from the boat, Mr Galea told the Townsville Bulletin.
“I’ve hit my head on the front rail," he told the publication.
“Mark, the man next to me, was unconscious.
"It all happened so fast, it was a freak accident.
“I’m thinking it was about three times the size (of the boat).”
The collision left a dent in the boat and knocked out one of the engines.
A whale slammed into the charter boat in the Witsundays knocking the two fishermen unconscious. Photo: AP/ Stock
Mr Galea's partner, Rachel Carpenter shared her gratitude.
"Thank you so much to the amazing people that were on board to help this afternoon with the freak accident that occurred," she wrote on Facebook.
"Thank you to the ambulance people, the VMR, the SES and all the other amazing services that helped manage the situation, the communications and organisation helped make a bad situation better under the circumstances."
