400kg dolphin ‘falls out of the sky’

Three blokes sailed out for a routine fishing trip, but were in for the shock of their lives.

An 11-foot, 400 kilogram dolphin leapt aboard a small fishing boat, which measured only 16-foot.

The group were trying their luck off the far north coast of New Zealand’s North Island, and were basking in the picturesque scenery as dolphins frolicked ahead.

The men saw a shadow across the sun, and heard a crash, before chaos ensued.

“This one decided to jump on board and say hello,” owner of the vessel Dean Harrison told AP.

“One minute everything was fine and then just like lightning striking, there’s a big dolphin in our boat thrashing around and breaking everything.”

The creature’s flailing snapped “every single fishing rod we had in the boat” and severely damaged the bow according to Mr Harrison, who had to cling to the sides of the boat with the other fishermen.

An 11 foot, 400 kilogram bottle nose dolphin seemed to “fall from the sky” and land on a small fisherman boat.

The juvenile male dolphin’s trajectory as he leapt into the boat grazed one man’s back and shoulder, causing minor injuries.

The fishermen and the dolphin were otherwise unharmed.

Even though the dolphin was a juvenile, it’s massive size meant the trio could not return it to sea on their own.

“We looked at the dolphin still alive and breathing and we thought, we’ve got to start looking after him and figure out what to do,” Mr Harrison told AP.

“Because he’s stuck in the boat for now, so he’s coming along for the ride.”

New Zealand’s conservation agency came to the rescue, and directed the unlikely group to a boat ramp an hour away, where their crew would wait to help the dolphin.

To keep the dolphin alive on the trip over, the fishermen used a hose to keep it wet and used a damp All Blacks rugby team towel to protect it from the sun.

On the way to the boat ramp where conservationists waited to help rescue the dolphin, three fishermen kept him damp using a hose and an All Blacks Rugby team towel.

When they arrived to the shore, members of the local Maori tribe prayed over the dolphin before a tractor returned it to the ocean.

Helpers named the two to three year old dolphin “Tohu” which means “sign” in the Maori language.

In a heartwarming twist, Mr Harrison’s boat is now also named Tohu.

“The dolphin got to swim away and we got to walk away and we’ve all got a story to tell,” he told AP.

“It’s a good ending in a situation that could have been very different.”

Originally published as 400kg dolphin ‘falls out of the sky’