KUALA NERUS: A group of Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) students braved high monsoon waves to help a beached dolphin get back to sea on Thursday.
Bio-marine final year student Mohd Nur Aiman Suhaimi, 23, and his coursemates Akalili Zanudin, 21, Wan Amirul Syafiq Wan Nazari, 22, Syakirah Sukery, 21, Farah Syahirah Ishak, 21, Syafiqah Nabilah Mutalib, 21 and Nur Aini Othman, 21, rushed to the Tanjung Gelam beach once they got news of the beached dolphin at 1.30pm.
Aiman said that he was conducting an experiment at his faculty’s laboratory when his friend Mohd Azlani Mohd Amin, 26, a Master’s degree student at UMT’s Institute of Oceanography and Environment (INOS), called.
“He told me that some villagers found a beached dolphin and needed assistance to get the marine mammal back to sea,” he said.
He said some passers-by had carried the dolphin to water, but the spot was too shallow and the dolphin could not overcome the big waves to swim to the open sea.
Aiman and Akalili then decided to carry the dolphin to another part of the beach where the water was deeper.
“The waves were high, but we managed to get the dolphin to deeper water and although it faced some difficulty at first, the dolphin was soon able to swim away safely,” he said.
Aiman and his friends stayed at the beach for another half an hour in case the dolphin was thrown back ashore by the strong waves.
“We left the beach after we were really sure that the dolphin was safe,” he said.
A video clip of their effort has gone viral on social media after it was posted on Facebook yesterday.
The monsoon waves at Tanjung Gelam have caused significant erosion; and the coastal road and fishermen’s houses there suffered major damage during the monsoon season last year.
Several years ago, an adult turtle was found dead at the same beach.