Four people have been injured by dolphins in Japan. The attacks took place on Sunday in the sea off the city of Mihama in Fukui prefecture in central Japan.
A man in his 60s escaped with broken ribs and bite wounds on his hands after a dolphin rammed him just meters from the beach. Another man in his 40s was bitten on the arms on the same beach. Two more people were injured there later in the day, the BBC reports.
According to Fukui police, a total of six dolphin attacks have been recorded so far this year. Notices on the beaches advise bathers not to approach or try to pet the dolphins.
Although dolphins are not normally aggressive towards humans, attacks on bathers are not an unknown phenomenon. Scientists have speculated that wild bottlenose dolphins become very stressed by swimming with humans because it disrupts their normal routines.