Dog found swimming in rough seas 130 miles off Thailand shore rescued by oil rig workers
In a very heartwarming and emotional moment, a stranded pooch was rescued after she was discovered swimming in the Gulf of Thailand around 130 miles off the shore. Workers who were aboard an oil rig discovered the dog’s head desperately poking out above the waves while she paddled through the ocean on Friday.
The Aspin dog was named Boonrod which means 'survivor' by the people who rescued her. According to the Bangkok Post, the dog had fallen off a fishing trawler and found herself in trouble. Luckily she was spotted by the offshore drillers, who called out to the tired and exhausted dog as she did her best to swim towards them and took refuge between a few rusty metal bars of the rig.
The oil rig workers then proceeded to lower a rope to Boonrod and pull her up to safety. It is reported that she stayed on the drilling platform for two nights while she was given a special cage which was welded. Boonrod was eventually lifted by a crane onto another oil vessel which was passing through the area on Sunday which then handed her over to vets located in Songkhla, Southern Thailand.
An oil worker Khon Vitisak who had saved the dog shared that he would like to adopt her if no owner comes forward. "We found her trying to swim towards our rig, which is about 220 kilometers (136 miles) from the shore. Thankfully the sea was quite still because the wind was calm," he shared.
"We just saw her small head but if the ripples were bigger, I think we probably wouldn’t have noticed her at all. After she made it onto the bars below the rig she didn’t cry or bark at all. We looked for a way to help her and in the end, decided to use the rope to tie around her body to lift her up," he added. "When we first took her on board she was depressed and tired from being in the water for a long time. When we gave her water and minerals her symptoms improved. She started sitting up and walking normally," he continued.
Animal charity workers are currently looking after Boonrod and do not know whether she has an owner or whether she is a stray.