17.06.2026 15:51
In Kuşadası district of Aydın, a Caretta caretta sea turtle found by amateur fishermen with a stone tied to its leg was rescued in a race against time. Expressing his reaction to the horrific incident, amateur fisherman Ahmet Şahin stated that he could hardly believe what he saw, saying, "A person with a conscience cannot even imagine this."
Two amateur fishermen who set sail in the Kuşadası district rescued a Caretta caretta that had been left to die with a paving stone tied to its foot, releasing it back into the sea after a challenging two-hour effort.
A STRUGGLE FOR LIFE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEA
According to the information obtained, Ahmet Şahin and Haluk Turgut, who went out to sea on their boat to fish in Kuşadası, noticed a Caretta caretta floundering on the water surface and immediately headed toward the area. The duo, who acted to save the unfortunate turtle allegedly left in the depths of the sea with a heavy paving stone tied to its foot, displayed exemplary sensitivity over the course of about two hours.
A DIFFICULT TWO-HOUR RESCUE OPERATION
Ahmet Şahin and Haluk Turgut struggled for a long time to cut the rope holding the stone on the sea turtle's foot, and after intense efforts, they managed to free the animal from its bindings. Reacting harshly to the cruelty experienced, Ahmet Şahin said, "It is impossible to understand what kind of conscience the person who did this has. We struggled for hours, but we finally managed to save it."
The Caretta caretta, freed from the heavy stone and rope tied to its foot, was released back into the cool blue waters of the Aegean Sea after being rescued. While the sea turtle, now free, disappeared from sight within a short time, the exemplary and humane behavior of amateur fishermen Şahin and Turgut earned great appreciation from nearby citizens.
"WE COULDN'T BELIEVE WHAT WE SAW"
Sharing the extraordinary incident they experienced, amateur fisherman Ahmet Şahin summarized the scene they encountered with these words:
"In the morning, I went fishing with my friend. We saw an animal sinking and surfacing in the water and went to it. We tried to rescue the animal, struggled a bit because we didn't have enough equipment, but we finally managed to catch it. We couldn't believe what we saw. They had deliberately tied a paving stone to the animal's leg and thrown it in. A person with a conscience wouldn't even think of this. We saved the animal by cutting the rope on its leg."
VITAL FACTS ABOUT CARETTA CARETTAS
By nature, Caretta carettas do not have gills, unlike many other marine creatures (such as fish). These creatures, which breathe air with their lungs, need to surface at regular intervals to sustain life and take in oxygen, drawing in fresh air through their nostrils, and then dive again.