This is the moment a fisherman nearly topples overboard as a fish on the end of his line almost drags him into the sea.

The incident happened while the unnamed angler was fishing in the South China Sea on 1st April.

In the footage, caught on CCTV, the fisherman can be seen struggling to hold the fishing line, which is probably dragged by a large fish as the waves strike the boat. Two other fishermen can be seen fishing next to him.

At one point, he seems to lose his strength and is apparently unable to hold the line anymore, as it drags him towards the sea.

He very nearly topples over the side of the boat and into the dark waters but thankfully the two other fishermen next to him come to his rescue.

But the unfortunate man did let go of his line which was dragged into the depths by the determined fish leaving him empty-handed after all his efforts.

According to local media, after the fright, the fisherman asked for help to get the fish out of the water, but it was not successful as the fish reportedly managed to break the line.

The video gained a lot of comments on the social network Douyin, which is what TikTok is called in China, with the netizen ‘labrador monkey’ saying: “Three people fishing were not expecting to throw their poles.”

And ‘man who doesn’t sleep at night’ said: “Know he knows what it feels like to catch a monster under the sea – deep-sea phobia.”