A trio of orcas worked together to sink a yacht off the coast of Spain, the latest in a string of similar incidents involving the marine mammals and European boats.

The three killer whales, one larger than the other two, rammed into the yacht on May 4, skipper Werner Schaufelberger said in a media report published last week.

The two little orcas observed the bigger ones technique and, with a slight run-up, they too slammed into the boat, he told Germanys Yacht magazine .

The people aboard were all rescued, but the boat ultimately sank.

Since 2020, there have been continuous reports of orcas having these kinds of interactions with boats in the Strait of Gibraltar and the waters around Spains Galicia region, biologist Alfredo Lpez Fernandez of Portugals University of Aveiro told Live Science .

The researcher, who co-authored a paper on the phenomenon published last year in the journal Marine Mammal Science, told Live Science that he only knew of three instances since 2020 in which orcas had fully sunk a boat. He also noted that the vast majority of vessels are left in peace.