Terrifying moment British yacht crew fear for their lives as 30 KILLER WHALES attack their vessel near Gibraltar

A British yacht crew were forced to fend off 30 killer whales after the pod attacked their vessel near Gibraltar. 

Footage of the terrifying moment shows several orcas swimming alongside the yacht before appearing to dive underneath it.

Black fins appear on both sides of the vessel as the enormous predators jump above the surface of the water less than a metre from the boat.

The Sun reported that the attack lasted two hours, with the orcas slamming the boat's hull throughout. 

The killer whales destroyed the rudder of the German-owned luxury yacht, forcing the three-man crew to seek safety on Gibraltar. 

Later in the clip, the camera plunges into the water to reveal the damaged rudder, the end of which has been shredded.    

A British yacht crew were forced to fend off 30 killer whales after the pod attacked their vessel near Gibraltar

Footage of the terrifying moment shows several orcas swimming alongside the yacht before appearing to dive underneath it

Later in the clip, the camera plunges into the water to reveal the damaged rudder, the end of which has been shredded

The frightening video was captured by Martin Evans, 45, one of three British men working on the delivery of the luxury sailing vessel from Ramsgate in Kent to mainland Greece.

Unfortunately, the boat, named Kismet, never arrived at its destination as the attack left the crew stranded on Gibraltar. 

Speaking over the clip, Evans explains that the crew were sailing about 25 miles off the coast of Spain at the time of the attack.

'You can see the wheel here being ripped from my hands, violently on its full lock from left to right. 

'At no point was I able to control it,' he says as the wheel spins frantically. 

He says the crew soon turned off the engine and electrics in the hope that the whales would lose interest but instead they continued to bash the vessel. 

Orcas can grow up to eight metres in length and can weigh as much as five tonnes. Their enormous mass led the crew to fear the attack would sink their vessel

The frightening video was captured by Martin Evans, 45, one of three British men working on the delivery of the luxury sailing vessel from Ramsgate in Kent to mainland Greece

The boat, named Kismet, never arrived at its destination as the attack left the crew stranded on Gibraltar, where the vessel is now being repaired

'At one point they did stop and go away but they did return and that kind of filled me with a bit of dread to be honest,' Evans said

'At some point we did notice behind the boat chunks of the rudder that had been bitten off. 

'At one point they did stop and go away but they did return and that kind of filled me with a bit of dread to be honest,' Evans said. 

Orcas can grow up to eight metres in length and can weigh as much as five tonnes.

Their enormous mass led the crew to fear the attack would sink their vessel. 

Evans, who lives in Greece, described the ordeal as 'an onslaught' but a fellow crew member revealed it could have been much worse. 

Nathan Jones, 27, told The Sun: 'I began to think: "Is this how it all ends?" 

'If the boat had sunk we would have been in a life raft surrounded by killer whales. That would have been drastic,' he said'.

It is not clear why the orcas attacked the sailing yacht but an expert has suggested one of the whales may have been hurt by a boat in the past.

Evans said it felt like the whales 'had a plan and were angry.' 

'It was not like watching dolphins who come up to the side of the boat and swim along, this was something more orchestrated.'

The boat is now being repaired on Gibraltar.  

It is not clear why the orcas attacked the sailing yacht but an expert has suggested one of the whales may have been hurt by a boat in the past

The killer whales destroyed the rudder of the German-owned luxury yacht, forcing the three-man crew to seek safety on Gibraltar

Evans said it felt like the whales 'had a plan and were angry.' 'It was not like watching dolphins who come up to the side of the boat and swim along, this was something more orchestrated'