Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe NAGASAKI, Japan, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- A jetfoil hit a whale while heading from Hakata in southwest Japan to Pusan in South Korea, causing some damage to the boat, the Japan Coast Guard said Friday. At around 11 a.m. Thursday, a crewmember of the 125-ton Kobee 3 bound for Pusan from Hakata in Fukuoka prefecture spotted a whale ahead of the vessel. The ship received a jolt, then the crewmember saw the whale behind it. Advertisement The whale disappeared and nobody in the vessel was injured in the accident. The boat headed for the port of Hitakatsu on Tsushima Island, where passengers were transferred to another vessel to travel to Pusan. It is rare for vessels to hit whales in the area, but ferry boats sailing in the Sea of Japan are now equipped with devices that emit sound waves into the sea, which have been successful in preventing whales from approaching the vessels, reported the Mainichi Shimbun Friday.
