This is the heartwarming moment newly hatched baby leatherback sea turtles emerged from the sand and were helped into the ocean in Thailand.

Footage shows the tiny reptiles slowly waddling beside each other towards the water in Phang-nga province’s Bang Kwan beach on January 25.

A total of 78 turtles were checked by marine wildlife officers before they transferred the creatures to a box.

Two of them did not survive and died mid-hatching, while eight are still fertilizing. Six eggs failed to fertilize and were removed from the nest.

They carried the reptiles near the beach and released them so they could easily reach the water.

An officer from the Phuket Marine Biological Center said they have been watching the nest closely together with staff from the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources.

He said: ‘We are glad that the leatherbacks are returning here to lay their eggs. It means that our environment is fit for them to reproduce.’

They found the nest after tracking the holes that the turtles had left on the beach and monitored until the turtles have emerged.

Leatherback sea turtles are the largest of all living turtles. They are listed as ‘vulnerable’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature due to its decreasing population caused by extensive egg collecting and accidentally being caught in fishing gears.