A group of Good Samaritans helped return a beach humpback whale calf to the ocean.

Dmitrijs Jemelins was walking along Swanbourne Beach, Australia, on July 9 when he spotted people running towards the sea.

Dramatic footage showed seven people in the surf as the young whale – measuring about four metres long – was tossed and turned on to its side.

As the group split into two to get on either side of the whale, they helped right the animal before it eventually pushed past the shore breaks 15 minutes later.

Dmitrijs, from Copenhagen, Denmark, said: “It was an emotional and inspiring experience for me, seeing all the people involved doing their best together to save a poor creature.

“I was excited to see this happening in front of my eyes and wanted to drop my phone and camera and assist in the rescue.

“My friends told me there were enough people involved already, mostly local lifeguards and surfers, better qualified to deal with the situation, so I ended up being just an observer.

“We had just finished our brunch when we saw a few people running towards the beach shouting ‘the whale has beached, the first one this season’.

“Naturally we followed them and saw it was a baby whale and really small. The length was around four metres.

“Overall the rescue took around 15 minutes. A few initial attempts were not successful when the calf was pushed by shore breaks back ashore.

“But on the third attempt it finally steered clear of the waves and shoreline.”