Boy knocked unconscious by whale tail

27 June 2011 - 14:04 By Sapa-AP
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
Image: RAINER SCHIMPF

A humpback whale has hit a dinghy with its tail off Australia's coast, knocking a 13-year-old boy unconscious and breaking his collarbone.

Drew Hall says he was fishing with his parents off the north coast of New South Wales state on Sunday morning when the whale breached near their dinghy.

He said Monday he did not see the tail coming when it crashed down on the 17-foot (5.2-meter) dinghy, smashing its canopy.

His mother Karen Hall said she saw her son knocked to the floor and thought he had been killed.

Drew was treated at a hospital for a concussion and a broken collarbone and was discharged Sunday afternoon.

subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now