A giant leatherback turtle was rescued after locals found it stranded in a beach in Indonesia.

The 200kg endangered marine mammal was struggling to waddle in the estuary towards the direction of the sea when locals found it in Oping Beach in Minahasa Regency, North Sulawesi province on June 10.

It appeared too weak to return to the water on its own so onlookers ran up to the creature and helped carry it back to the sea.

Footage shows the locals pushing the enormous and heavy turtle and occasionally lifting it up so it could move towards the water.

Resident Jendry Rendy Tentero said: ‘We were having fun and celebrating the birthday of a friend when we noticed the turtle. At first we thought it was a crocodile but we were surprised to see it was a giant turtle.’

The animal successfully returned to the water and swam back to the depths after being helped by locals. It was not injured and the incident was reported to local wildlife officers.

A wildlife officer said: ‘The turtle might have been pushed by the current to the estuary. It was then lost in the shallows and was stranded while finding its way back to the sea.’

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.