This is the heartwarming moment a boat crew rescued three sea turtles that were stuck in a discarded fishing net.

Captain Chaiwat Rotprasong was sailing back to the shore with his team when he saw the creature flapping along with the abandoned net near Ko Bulon Le island, in Satun, southern Thailand.

The deep-sea fisherman said he felt he had to do something when he saw the marine animals stuck in the water.

He said: "At first we thought it might be only one turtle, but there were three. We let them swim back into the ocean afterwards."

The team later pulled the net up and took it back to the garbage dump with them, to avoid the same hazard trapping other turtles.

The net is believed to be from a foreign fishing boat as it had a serial number indicating it came from international waters.