VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Emergency crews assisted several passengers after a whale watching boat was hit by a rogue wave on Saturday morning.
During the 10 a.m. Virginia Aquarium whale-watching boat trip, a rogue wave hit the boat while it was going through the Rudee Inlet, said Matthew Klepeisz, Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center spokesperson.
The captain safely navigated the boat to the Virginia Beach Fishing Center. Emergency crews assisted the passengers off the boat, Klepeisz said.
There were 124 people on board the boat. That included staff, crew, and guests.
Kirsten McGrath was on the tour with her husband and two children when the wave hit.
"It happened very fast,” McGrath said. “We were laughing and having a good time then, boom! It just hit us like a brick wall."
McGrath said the wave knocked her and her husband to the ground and left the entire family drenched and shaken.
“After it happened, all you heard was screaming,” McGrath said. “There was this little girl screaming 'I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die.'”
Video from Surfline.com shows the moment the wave hit the boat.
TJ Johnson was surfing nearby and saw it all unfold.
“The boat was about 45 degrees in the air, with people yelling and screaming,” Johnson said. “It came crashing down and water went shooting everywhere."
McGrath said the wave dented the bow of the boat and knocked out the windows of the deckhouse.
McGrath, an EMS student, said she jumped in to help.
“I helped somebody that has a broken clavicle, an older lady she was such a sweetheart,” McGrath said. “There was a gentleman with hip pain, he was treated as well.”
The aquarium offers boat trips on the Atlantic Explorer that runs Wednesday through Sunday. Tourists on the boat can observe humpback whales and bottlenose dolphins in the Atlantic Ocean.
4 people taken to Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital with minor injuries for further evaluation, Klepeisz said.
"We appreciate the quick response and assistance from the Virginia Beach EMS, Fire and Police Departments and the management and staff at the Virginia Beach Fishing Center," he said.
The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating.