A pod of killer whales approached what appeared to be a blue whale in the waters off Monterey, California, on May 18.

This drone footage captures the rare encounter.

Monterey Bay Whale Watch, which filmed this video, said “six killer whales suddenly charged the blue whale and frightened the blue causing it to throw and thrash its body and tail fluke creating massive whitewater. The blue whale then fled rapidly away from the killer whales at such a high rate of speed, probably about 20 kts, that our vessel could not keep up.”