This is the heartwarming moment tourists saved a giant stingray that was stranded on a beach in Thailand.

Kindhearted holidaymakers rescued the leviathan after it had been snared by fishing lines at Nai Harn Beach in Rawai, Phuket, on March 9.

Footage shows five men carefully dragging the animal from the shore and releasing it back into the water.

A resident said the stingray had been entangled in stray fishing nets before locals and tourists helped free it from the ropes.

Onlooker Napas Sangdee said: 'This happened when the tide was leaving the beach. The stingray appeared and people walked over to see what it was.

'Everyone was worried at first but it was not dangerous. They carried it into the sea and it floated away. I hope that it will survive and that any injuries were not too severe.'

Discarded fishing equipment, including ghost nets like those that entangled the stingray, has become a recurring problem in Thai waters. It is one of the biggest threats to marine life.