A group of seven marine biology students from Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) rescued a dolphin found stranded at Pantai Tanjung Gelam near Kuala Nerus yesterday.

One of the students, Mohd Nur Aiman Suhaimi, 23, said he received a phone call from the villagers about the stranded marine mammal about 1.30pm.

“At first it seemed unbelievable because, as far as I know, there has never been any sighting of a dolphin stranded off the coast of Terengganu before,” said Mohd Nur Aiman, a final year degree student in Marine Biology at UMT.

“We did have stranded turtles before, many times, but never a dolphin. It was just unbelievable. Still, we went to the site to confirm it,” he said when contacted by Bernama today.

It took him and six other students from UMT about five minutes to move the dolphin to deeper waters but the animal was too weak and unable to withstand the tide.

“I was made to understand that the dolphin was found stranded at the beach but two individuals managed to move it to shallow water before we arrived,” said Mohd Nur Aiman who was assisted by 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.

“It was worrying when the dolphin started to make some sounds and there was a small cut on its head. Fortunately, the villagers were quick to contact us and it finally managed to swim back to the ocean,” he said.

The group waited almost 30 minutes to make sure the dolphin was completely out of danger and no longer stranded on the beach, he said.

- Bernama