A kind-hearted diver saved a shark from being eaten by humans after they bought it from a restaurant for just £15 and released it back into the ocean.

Victor Salmon had noticed that a restaurant near his home in Pattaya, Thailand, sold shark fin soup and was outraged when he saw the conditions they were kept in.

The 23-year-old returned on April 1 and after enquiring about whether he could buy one but not to eat, left the restaurant with a young animal after paying just £15 (700baht).

Just 30 minutes later, Victor released the shark – either a bamboo or nurse shark – into the Gulf of Thailand ‘to meet its mum and dad’.

Victor said: “One evening me and my friend Tom were just cruising by and came across the restaurant. We checked the menu to see if we wanted to eat there.

“We were stunned when we saw that you could eat shark on the menu, so we asked about it and they asked if we wanted to see the sharks.

“We went to check the tank and were shocked at the conditions that they were in and that people actually eat them.

“We tried twice to buy a shark. The first time we went they only had one and they wanted to keep it for their menu even though I offered triple the money.

“The shark had fresh ocean water in the Styrofoam box and we cut holes at the top for air. It was only 10 minutes travelling from the restaurant to the ocean.

“It's such an amazing feeling to swim with a shark, the way they move underwater is just so beautiful.”