Extremely rare white Omura’s whale breaches water close to passing boat in Thailand

Lucky tourists captured video of a rare white Omura’s whale off the coast of Phuket, Thailand, on New Year’s Day.

Footage taken from the boat shows the magnificent whale swimming nearby and breaching the surface, while still images of the encounter show its beautiful and possibly very rare white pigmented skin.

The first living Omura’s whale was seen in the wild in 2015, but this is the first known sighting of what could be an albino off Thailand.

Following the discovery, a search by marine experts has been sparked.

While they successfully tracked more of the rare whales, they are yet to find the white one.