Whale slams into fishing boat, knocking passenger into water and leaving hole in the hull

Watch out for whales.

A fishing boat had to call for help after it had an encounter with a whale off the coast of Rhode Island. According to witnesses, the larger animal was participating in a feeding frenzy when it slammed into the boat.

The collision left the vessel with a hole in its side and it began taking on water.

Dale Denelle, a photographer and fisherman, spoke with Fox News about how he was out on a trip near Block Island in Rhode Island when he received a call from a nearby boat that was in trouble. He said that he was headed to the area anyway, so he decided to see if he could help.

Denelle explained that they came across a fishing boat with a big hole in the side. The boat was one of 40-50 fishing boats in the area that was hunting for tuna. Apparently, a feeding frenzy broke out in the water in the area.

200-LB SHARK CIRCLES FISHERMAN'S BOAT, STARES ANGLER RIGHT IN THE EYES

While the whale did strike the boat hard enough to damage it, Denelle doesn’t think the animal did it on purpose. Regardless, the strike was hard enough to knock one of the passengers out of the boat and onto the whale.

Denelle shared footage he filmed from the incident on his Youtube page.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Fortunately, nobody was hurt and the passenger was safely recovered.

The boat’s electronics were also briefly disabled. Fortunately, another fisherman was nearby and was able to help plug the hole and radio the coast guard for assistance.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

Denelle explained that this was the first he’s seen something like this happen. The damaged boat was successfully returned to shore and nobody was injured during the incident.