Footage has emerged of the moments immediately after a man was knocked unconscious when a whale breached next to his vessel, slapping him in the face.
The man, aged in his 40s, was driving a tinnie in waters off Duranbah near the NSW-Queensland border when the whale breached next to him just before 9am on Sunday.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Man slapped in the face by whale tail.
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He did not know the whale was there until it appeared next to him, Queensland Police said.
He was reportedly struck in the face by the whale’s tail and knocked unconscious, with his boat flipped in the incident.
In the footage, a man can be heard saying: “Whoa! That was so lucky.”
“That was so lucky,” a woman agreed.
Passing jet skiers came to his aid and alerted emergency services.
The man was brought to shore by paramedics and taken to Gold Coast University Hospital in a stable condition, where he was treated for facial and spinal injuries.
– With AAP
