Whale leaves four injured while advancing against vessel in Australia

One man lost consciousness and three others suffered fractures of the face and ribs after a whale struck a nine-meter vessel sailing along Australia's north coast. The captain said he was returning to a port in Queensland with eight passengers when a humpback whale struck the boat from behind.

"In a fraction of a second, we all fell to the ground and the boat flew," Captain Oliver Galea told AFP. "No one understood what was happening," he added.

A 71-year-old South African man lost consciousness and was taken to a helicopter hospital, as were three other men. The tourist suffered a broken nose, while Galea received eight points for a head injury. A third passenger had fractures in the face, and another one left the accident with fractured ribs.

"We see whales all the time, but this has never happened," said the captain.

Humpback whales migrate annually from northern Antarctica to the hottest climate on the Australian coast to mate and give birth. They can grow up to 16 meters in length.

The ordeal did not deter any of the passengers, Galea said, who were "all in a good mood" after they met on Sunday to eat the catch from the previous day.