This is the heartbreaking moment a dead whale shark was dragged ashore after a mystery death.

The creature, estimated to be nine years old, was found floating in shallow waters around Libong island in Trang, southern Thailand last Friday (November 15).

The shark's body was retrieved by local government officials while crowd of locals gathered to watch the process, which took over three hours to finish.

Vets alongside fishery officers dissected the juvenile male shark whale to identify the cause of his death.

They found scratch scars on the skin but they did not believe those were the cause for its death. There was also no plastic or deterioration inside the body.

Vet Piyarat Khoomraksa said she believed that the shark died from natural causes, which would need the further postmortem examinations to identify.

She said: "From the initial examination carried out by the team, we found no plastic or any other sign of injury in the body, which made us believe he died from an illness.

"We took samples of blood and tissues which will be used for further examination before we can conclude his cause of death."

This is the heartbreaking moment a dead whale shark was dragged ashore after a mystery death.

The creature, estimated to be nine years old, was found floating in shallow waters around Libong island in Trang, southern Thailand last Friday (15/11) afternoon.

The shark's body was retrieved by local government officials while crowd of locals gathered to watch the process, which took over three hours to finish.

Vets alongside fishery officers dissected the juvenile male shark whale to identify the cause of his death.

They found scratch scars on the skin but they did not believe those were the responsible. There was also no plastic or deterioration inside the body.

Vet Piyarat Khoomraksa said she believed that the shark died from the natural causes, which would need the further postmortem examinations to identify.

She said: "From the initial examination carried out by the team, we found no plastic or any other sign of injury in the body, which made us believe he died from an illness.

"We took samples of blood and tissues which will be used for further examination before we can conclude his cause of death."