Fishermen get a surprise when a 900-pound dolphin lands on their boat

A placid fishing trip turned “berserk” for three New Zealand men when a dolphin weighing 900 pounds appeared to fall out of the sky before crash-landing in their small boat.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A placid fishing trip turned “berserk” for three New Zealand men when a dolphin weighing 900 pounds appeared to fall out of the sky before crash-landing in their small boat.

No one was badly hurt when the 11-foot bottlenose dolphin jumped aboard the open-top boat Friday, said Dean Harrison, the owner of the nearly 16-foot vessel.

Harrison and two companions were fishing near the Hole in the Rock, a picturesque spot off the far north coast of New Zealand’s North Island, while dolphins frolicked ahead. The men saw a shadow across the bright summer sun and heard an almighty boom — before chaos unfolded.

The dolphin after jumping into the small boat.Dean Harrison via AP“This one decided to jump on board and say hello,” Harrison said. “One minute everything was fine and just like lightning strikes, 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 as the trio clung to the vessel’s sides, Harrison said. One man had minor injuries to his arm where the juvenile male dolphin grazed his back and shoulder, but all three fishermen and the dolphin were otherwise uninjured.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/fishermen-get-surprise-900-pound-dolphin-lands-boat-rcna194828

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