Rome - A 14-year-old boy was saved from drowning by a dolphin yesterday after falling from a boat into the sea off the southeast coast of Italy, reports Philip Willan.
The boy, whose identity was not made public, said he was hanging off the side of his father's motorboat when he lost his grip and fell into the sea.
Unable to swim, he suddenly felt himself being pushed to the surface of the water and towards his father's boat by the bottlenose dolphin, known as Filippo to local fishermen.
"When I realised it was Filippo I grabbed onto him," the boy told reporters.