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Showing posts with the label New Zealand

Playful dolphin strands swimmer

A swimmer who had being playing with a dolphin got stranded after the creature decided it wanted to carry on playing - and would not let her swim to shore. Thursday, July 30, 2009 WELLINGTON: A New Zealand swimmer got into difficulty when a friendly dolphin stopped her returning to shore.The woman had been swimming with the dolphin, called Moko, at Mahia Beach on the North Island. But the playful dolphin did not want the fun to end. People at a nearby cafe eventually heard her cries for help, and rowed out to her rescue. She was found, exhausted and extremely cold, clinging to a buoy. She said the dolphin had meant no harm. The woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, was wearing a wetsuit. But even that eventually failed to protect her from the winter cold. She told the local newspaper: "I went out by myself quite late, which probably was not the wisest thing to do. "We were playing around for a while but then when I wanted to go back in, he just wanted to keep playing. I bec...

Tsunami warning after 7.8 quake off New Zealand

Wednesday, July 15, 2009, WELLINGTON: The U.S. Geological Survey has issued a tsunami warning after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck off New Zealand's western coast. The USGS says the quake's epicenter was 100 miles (161 kilometers) west of Invercargill, off the west coast of New Zealand's southern island, at a depth of 20.5 kilometers (33 kilometers). The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii sent an e-mail alert warning of a possible tsunami in New Zealand. "An earthquake of this size has the potential to generate a destructive tsunami that can strike coastlines in the region near the epicenter within minutes to hours," it says.