Big yellow digger got stuck off Kapiti Coast

It took two bulldozers and a large digger to rectify what is being described as a drunken prank - and now police are trying to track down the culprits.

A 25-tonne digger was spotted in the Kapiti Coast surf before dawn on Saturday.

When people arrived to save the digger, estimated to be worth about $250,000, it was sinking into the soft mud and the outgoing tide was creating a suction to the sea floor.

It meant workers - braving cold, rain, and surf - had to get the steel cables beneath the machine and the force of the two bulldozers and digger were needed to break the powerful suction.

Shortly after, in a scene reminiscent of book Little Yellow Digger, one of the rescue bulldozers also started sinking deep in the mud but the stranded digger was hauled from the sea at about midday.

A large crowd, easily more than 100 people, gathered to watch the rescue effort.

Ross Dolman, a spectator, said he understood someone found some keys and managed to get the digger going in the middle of the night and drove it away from the nearby boating club, where it had been parked outside.

It was not clear if the digger had got swamped in the sea or ‘‘if they decided to park it there just for a bit of a laugh’’, he said.

Police said they’re ‘‘making enquiries’’ but there had been no arrests.

They’re keen to hear from anyone who saw anything suspicious in the area not long after midnight Friday - in particular, any sightings of the driver of a silver car.