Three Spanish police officers thrown into the sea when their boat crashed early Friday during a high-speed chase were pulled to safety by the drug-smugglers they were chasing, the authorities have revealed.

The unexpected rescue happened after a police vessel began pursuing a speedboat “with four people on board that was suspected of transporting drugs” in waters off the southern coast of Spain, a police statement says.

During the chase, the two vessels collided, causing three police officers to fall into the sea as their boat “span out of control”.

Using a megaphone, a police helicopter that was hovering overhead called on those on board the speedboat to help and they pulled the three agents to safety unharmed.

© Handout This handout picture released by the Spanish Guardia Civil shows a police officer swimming back to the police helicopter, after three Spanish police officers who were thrown into the sea when their boat crashed during a high-speed chase

The gesture did not spare them, however, when police found three tonnes of hashish in the water nearby.

“They were arrested for drug trafficking,” a police statement says, indicating that more than 80 bundles of hash were recovered from the sea.