File this under “Sentences You Didn’t Expect to Read Today.”

A man in South Africa was recently rescued after a helicopter crash—and when emergency crews got to the scene, they found him carrying a live penguin… inside a cardboard box.

And no, that’s not a Mad Libs game. That’s a real news story.

The crash

According to South African authorities, a helicopter went down near Cape Town on Friday, April 5. The only person on board was the pilot, who miraculously walked away from the wreckage.

When emergency responders arrived, they spotted the pilot carrying a cardboard box under his arm like it was takeout. Inside? A juvenile African penguin—very much alive, slightly shaken, and probably wondering what in the frozen fish fillet just happened.

Wait… why did he have a penguin?

Great question. Turns out the penguin had been rescued earlier by conservationists who were transporting it for rehabilitation. It somehow ended up in the chopper with the pilot—and when the helicopter went down, both passenger and penguin got a wild ride.

The bird has since been taken to the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) for recovery, and thankfully, it’s doing fine. Just maybe a little traumatized.

Honestly, same.

Plot twist: The box wasn’t even secured.

According to reports, the penguin wasn’t in a pet carrier or anything sturdy. It was in a plain cardboard box. Which means this little bird survived a helicopter crash in the same thing you ship old books in. And somehow… came out completely unharmed.

Nature is wild. But penguins? Penguins are built different.

Final thought

We’ve heard of emotional support animals on flights—but this is next-level. A pilot, a helicopter, and a penguin in a box walk into a field… and walk out alive.

Somebody call Netflix. We smell a low-budget movie deal.