This is the heartwarming moment sailors whisk a seal to safety after it jumped aboard their luxury yacht to escape hungry orcas.

Footage of the astonishing escape was recorded as the desperate seal swam to the cruiser while the killer whales were chasing it down in Avacha Bay in the remote Kamchatka region of Russia.

As one powerful orca circles the cruiser the sailors call to the terrified seal to encourage it to climb on board.

Then – with what seems to be the last of its strength – the seal leaps onto the deck at the rear of the boat.

Now out of reach of the predators’ deadly jaws, it jams itself behind a ladder and keeps stock still.

As the sailors cheer, they sail off at speed away with the grateful seal looking up at them as if to say thank you.

All the frustrated orcas can do is spout from their blowhole and move on to an easier kill.

As the video ends, one of the men can be heard saying: “Don’t worry, everything is fine.”

Avacha Bay is a Pacific Ocean bay on the southeastern coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula.