Janet Morris and Stephen Bidwell from Cambridge were preparing for their night watch when the pod of orcas attacked and they realised they were sitting ducks on board the boat

A British couple has relived the terrifying moment they were attacked by killer whales while sailing off the coast of Morocco.

Janet Morris and Stephen Bidwell, from Cambridge, said they were “sitting ducks” when they came across a pod of orcas, during a sailing course.

Some of the deadly mammals then started bumping the boat, for more than an hour, the couple said.

The couple were taking a nap in preparation for their night-watch duty when they felt banging on the hull and heard crew members shout, ‘Orcas! Orcas!’ – so they rushed to deck.

At some point during the attack the crew saw the orcas – thought to number at least six – chasing pieces of debris that looked like sponge in the water.

The orcas let up the chase after an hour but the steering on the boat failed so they headed back to shore.

Faced with high winds and big swells, the crew managed to navigate to calmer waters, and away from the orcas to a point of safety.

The British couple say the attack lasted an hour ( Image: Stephen Bidwell / SWNS)

Business consultant Janet, 58, said: “I couldn’t believe it when I saw them – it’s extremely rare. We were sitting ducks.

“We were amazingly calm but underneath we were thinking, ‘Oh my God’.

“Because everyone was calm it felt okay, but we were petrified, it wasn’t until afterwards that we talked about being very scared.

“We got our valuables and our passports and talked about getting the life raft ready.

“It really didn’t help that conditions were bad before the orcas. The boat was moving around a lot – it was hard to distinguish one cause from the others.

“The captain was very calm and orderly, which got everyone through.”

The pod chased the boat ( Image: Stephen Bidwell / SWNS)

Photographer Stephen, also 58, said: “We all remained calm because we were aware that if any of us got anxious it would be infectious.

“We were able to do that because the skipper was so calm.

“Orcas enjoy the thrill of the chase, so ideally we’d have kept still, but that wasn’t possible because of the winds.”

Janet and Stephen, who are qualified to charter and captain sailing boats, were on day two of a week-long course to clock up sailing miles when the orcas hit, on Tuesday May 2, just seven miles from Tangier in northwestern Morocco.

Orcas attacked the boat ( Image: Greg Blackburn / SWNS)

Back in port they realised that the debris were pieces from the rudder of the sailing yacht, a 46-foot Bavaria.

source: mirror.co.uk