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Dolphins Help Rescuers Spot Missing Swimmer

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  • A beachgoer alerted the rescue team when they saw clothes on the beach with no swimmer in sight.
  • The rescue team couldn’t find any sign of the missing swimmer, even with several lifeboats and a helicopter.
  • They were only able to spot and rescue the man when they noticed a pod of dolphins gathered around him!

A person was walking their dog by the shore of Castlegregory Beach in County Kerry, Ireland, at around 11 o’clock one August morning when they noticed a pile of clothing on the sand.

sandy beach
Photo Credit: Instagram

But when they scanned the waters for the swimmer, they couldn’t see anyone.

So they contacted the local rescue team, Fenit RNLI, which soon arrived by boat.

The rescuers searched Tralee Bay for the missing swimmer but couldn’t find any signs.

rescue crew on orange Lifeboat
Photo Credit: Facebook

They still had no luck by late afternoon. Soon, the local police sent two additional lifeboats and a helicopter to widen their search area.

It was already nighttime, around 8:30 p.m., when a searcher spotted movement. It was a pod of dolphins!

three dolphins swimming in ocean
Photo Credit: Pexels

It was among the dolphins that they spotted the head of a man who was barely keeping his chin above the water.

Coxswain Finbarr O’Connel said that it was obvious that the man was a competent swimmer. Stranded at about 4 kilometers (or 2.48 miles) off the Castlegregory Beach where he came from, he was doing his best to tread the water and stay afloat.

“At this time of the year the water would be pretty warm which was definitely on his side, too. He wasn’t too bad when we pulled him onto the boat, but his body temperature was well down,” O’Connel added.

The man has since been treated for hypothermia and is on the road to a full recovery.

The rescue team said that searching for a missing swimmer has usually been like finding a needle in a haystack, so this particular rescue seemed like a miracle.

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And the dolphins made it possible!

two dolphins with heads above water
Photo Credit: Pexels

O’Connel wasn’t sure just how much the dolphins helped the swimmer: “Maybe they helped him in some way or another: Who knows?”

Still, they may have never found the swimmer without the dolphins who kept him company.

There have been legends of dolphins coming to the aid of those stranded at sea, and this story makes a convincing case!

Source: Inspire More

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