This is the heartwarming moment fishermen saved a whale shark stuck in a net in the Philippines.

The men were checking their lines when they noticed the marine creature struggling to free itself in Atimonan, Quezon province, the Philippines.

At first, they thought they caught a shark but upon a closer look, they realised that it was a 20 foot-long whale shark that was tangled with their fishing gears.

The group then helped free the animal by removing the net around its body and pushing the huge marine mammal back to the deeper part of the sea.

Resident Jazzon Bautista said: "Everyone helped push the whale shark into the ocean. It was having difficulty swimming since it was stranded on shallow waters."

The nets were installed around the shallow part of the beach to prevent sharks from entering the area. However, the whale shark may have been blown by strong currents and was trapped among the nets.

After almost half an hour, the whale shark was pushed back to the sea without any injuries. Local officials reported the whale shark sighting to the wildlife office.

This is the heartwarming moment fishermen saved a whale shark stuck in a net in the Philippines.

The men were checking their lines when they noticed the marine creature struggling to free itself in Atimonan, Quezon province, the Philippines.

At first, they thought they caught a shark but upon a closer look, they realised that it was a 20ft-long whale shark that was tangled with their fishing gears.

The group then helped free the animal by removing the net around its body and pushing the huge marine mammal back to the deeper part of the sea.

Resident Jazzon Bautista said: ‘Everyone helped push the whale shark into the ocean. It was having difficulty swimming since it was stranded on shallow waters.’

The nets were installed around the shallow part of the beach to prevent sharks from entering the area. However, the whale shark may have been blown by strong currents and was trapped among the nets.

After almost half an hour, the whale shark was pushed back to the sea without any injuries. Local officials reported the whale shark sighting to the wildlife office.