Stunning video of an encounter between volunteers on a boat and an orca off the coast of Russia's Far East.

The footage, captured on August 23 in Avacha Bay, Kamchatka, shows the curious killer whale rising to the surface and nearly colliding with the RIB.

The orca rises to the surface in front of the visibly moved crew and also swims on its back next to the boat as if teasing those aboard.

The lucky filmer was a volunteer for the Far East Russia Orca Project (FEROP) over the summer.

He writes: "Rare and very emotional meeting with young and curious orca AV102a from the Hookie family in Avacha Bay (Kamchatka, Russia) in August 2017 during my volunteering in FEROP team."

According to the FEROP website, Russian orcas are "probably not endangered but when considered as various individual breeding populations their numbers are much less and need to be monitored and the population structure clarified.

"In recent years, Japanese and other aquariums have taken an interest in obtaining Russian orcas, due to the proximity of the orcas in waters due north of Japan, as well as the lack of protection for orcas in these waters."

Rare and very emotional meeting with young and curious orca AV102a from the Hooky family in Avacha Gulf (Kamchatka, Russia) in August 2017 during my volunteering with the group of scientists of FEROP team (Far East Russia Orca Project, russianorca.org). Two episodes (30 min between them).