Usually seen on Instagram photos in pools, this unicorn float was not a very safe experience for a 3-year-old girl who drifted away to sea on it.

According to New York Times (NYT), a toddler who got on the inflatable unicorn float at a beach in southern Greece, was pushed out to sea before her parents could react.

It was reported that the child's father and others had raced to grab hold of the float when it started drifting from the beach.

Some folks on the beach even tried to row out to the girl but had trouble getting to her due to strong currents.

The Greek authorities then reached out to a nearby vessel as it was closest to the scene.

Found drifting alone at sea

Fortunately, while out at sea on her own, the young child was spotted by Grigoris Karnesis, an experienced Greek ferryboat captain.

According to NYT, the captain could not believe what he was looking at, as the small girl's float was moving quickly on the water.

Karnesis estimated that the girl had been floating alone at sea for about 20 minutes.

The 50-year-old quickly brought his 100-metre long ferry, which is big enough to hold 300 cars and 500 passengers, near the float to rescue the toddler.

Using his experience over steering the ship, he cut the front engine of the ferry to create calmer water and to prevent the child from getting caught in the backwash of the ferry's engine.

The captain's brother, Vasilis Karnesis, who was also the ship mechanic, used a lowered ramp (usually used to load cars onto the ferry) to grab the girl and her float from the sea.

Footage of rescue uploaded to Facebook

The child's rescue was uploaded to Facebook by a passenger, Petros Kritsonis.

Kritsonis told NYT that he had posted the video “to show the danger of the sea toys we all use extensively,” and said it was unfair to cast blame on the parents.

In the video, toddler is seen drifting quickly towards the boat, before she is pulled to safety by a few crew members, who grab the float and the child.

According to Kritsonis, the toddler was overwhelmed and speechless after being rescued.

"[S]he was frozen from her fear, because the current was very strong,” he told Greek City Times.

The captain said that the little girl was very scared.

The Greek City Times reported Karnesis' observation she did not speak at all, but cried perhaps out of despair, when she saw the big ship approaching her.

Here's the video of the rescue:

The Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, called the captain to express his gratitude to the crew for the toddler's rescue, NYT reported.

The captain of the ferry, who is a father of two, said that he felt a responsibility to return the toddler to her family safely.

Top images via Petros Kritsonis/Facebook