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Earlier this week, Ina Mansika from Norway, went down to the coast in Hammerfest, with some friends in hopes of spotting a very special creature.

The group were on the look out for a beluga whale that has been lingering in the area.

But while waiting on the dock to catch a glimpse of the animal in question, her phone fell out of her pocket and into the water.

The young woman assumed the device was lost to her forever.

But then something absolutely incredible happened.

(Image: JORGEN REE WIIG/NORWEGIAN DIRECTORATE OF FISHERIES/HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/REX)

Mansika's phone was returned to her moments later - by the very same whale she'd come to see.

Speaking to The Dodo, she recalled the event: "We laid down on the dock to look at [the whale] and hopefully get a chance to pat it.

"I had forgotten to close my jacket pocket and my phone fell in the ocean.

"We assumed it would be gone forever, until the whale dove back down and came back a few moments later with my phone in its mouth."

Her friend Isa Opdahl Larsson captured the incredible moment on video.

She shared the footage on Instagram , where it has been view over 160,000 times.

Mansika said she almost couldn't believe what had happened.

She added: "Everyone was so surprised. We almost didn't believe what we saw.

"I was super happy and thankful that I got my phone back."

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By now you might have come to the conclusion that this was no ordinary whale.

And you'd be right.

Fishermen discovered the animal at the end of April and were shocked to see it was wearing a Go Pro harness, emblazoned with the words 'Equipment of St Petersburg'.

This lead marine experts to suspect that the creature could have been trained by the Russian navy to carry out military operations underwater.

While the tale may sound far-fetched, it would not be the first time Soviet Russia has recruited marine mammals to work on its military ops.

Both the USA and Soviet Russia have in the past secretively recruited dolphins.

The Soviet's military dolphin program was thought to have closed in the early 1990s, but reports in 2000 suggested the trained creatures had been sold to Iran.