By Li Xian and Ding Lei

BEIJING, Aug. 15 -- Service members assigned to an army brigade under the PLA Eastern Theater Command rescued a stranded dolphin on the beach on the morning of August 14.

That morning, the officers and soldiers came to the seaside for swimming training as usual. There, they found a dying dolphin stranded on the beach.

“At that time, the sun had irradiated the entire beach, the sea was ebbing, and the temperature was gradually rising, reaching as high as 30 degrees Celsius. The stranded dolphin was sustaining its life by the last water of its body,” service members recalled.

They immediately carried the dolphin, weighing more than 150 kilograms, into the seawater. After dozens of seconds, the dolphin moved its tail and gradually recovered consciousness. However, it was still too weak to swim back to the sea by itself. The commander of the brigade then decided to send the dolphin back to the deep sea area by the rigid-hull inflatable boat.  

The dolphin, after backing to the deep sea, lingered around the boat for a long time, unwilling to leave.

"We are glad to see the dolphin return home safely," said the officers and soldiers.

It is learnt that the brigade has carried out training in this sea area for nearly a month.