Rescue workers recovering bodies of tsunami victims in southern Thailand were working hard Monday to keep two special survivors alive: a female dolphin and her calf swept into a small lagoon by powerful waves.

　　The animals, believed to be a female Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin and her roughly 3-year-old offspring, were spotted Monday by a local man searching for his missing wife more than a mile from the coast.

　　The mother, about seven feet long, appeared to have been injured on her back.

　　"I reckon ... they came in with the initial wave, and when the water retreated, they couldn't get back again, probably because it's pretty deep in here," said Edwin Wiek, a Dutchman who is director of the Wildlife Friends of Thailand Rescue Center.

　　Wiek said the two might survive only a few days without live fish to feed on.

　　With the search for survivors on Thailand's devastated southwestern coast basically turning into recovery of bodies, the discovery of the two dolphins energized workers.

　　"That's why we hope we get them out. That would be the only survivor story," Wiek said. "We need one."

　　Amid constant shouts, teams of about two dozen Greek divers tried to corner the dolphins Monday afternoon in what used to be a small valley before the tsunami waters swept in and left a lagoon about 16 feet deep. The goal was to get the mammals into large black and green nets so they could be put into carriers and hauled to the sea.

　　But after one attempt failed, a marine biologist told them that the nets were too small. A radio broadcast went out asking fishermen to bring in larger nets to the isolated area, not far from the posh Sofitel resort that was virtually flattened by the tsunami.

　　While the rescue attempt went on, about two dozen onlookers watched and volunteers spotted several human bodies in the brown vegetation, including one in the lake.

　　The divers finally had to give up because of darkness, but planned to try again early Tuesday using a larger net that would be weighted down to create walls to keep the dolphins from slipping away again. They also were seeking the help of a dolphin expert.

　　Thai Maj. Wipol Inthong said it was possible that an army aircraft might be asked to haul the dolphins to sea if they couldn't be transported by truck.

　　Wiek said there are about 500-600 Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins in the seas around Thailand, and that they migrate between the Indian and Pacific oceans.