Underwater photographers and free divers rescued a ray tangled in fishing rope - while being circled by sharks.

The mobula ray was trapped 18m below the surface, completely wrapped in rope from a shark fisherman's buoy.

Working in shifts, the team carefully cut away the line and freed the distressed animal while documenting the entire rescue, off Baja California, Mexico.

After swimming away, the injured ray unexpectedly returned, circling the divers in what they described as a "thank you" moment."

Andre Smits, 35, an underwater photographer, was part of the ocean safari group who spotted the ray and helped with the rescue on June 16, 2024.

"We went to one of the shark fishermen's buoys because we didn't find any wildlife to interact with that day," Smits, 35, said. "

"Our guide jumped in to check the line, popped his head up right away, and said, 'Guys, I need your help. There's something stuck in the line.'"

The team found at least three silky sharks circling the scene.

"While we were doing this whole rescue, at least three sharks were swimming around, and the sharks were ready to attack as soon as she almost passed away," Smits said. "

"Sharks love it when animals are dead. They feed on it. Luckily, she wasn't attacked yet, but we always kept an eye on the sharks to see how interested they were."

The rescue required careful coordination among seven divers.

A free-diving trainer descended to cut the rope below the ray, allowing the team to pull the animal closer to the surface.

"It was completely entangled. The rope was going around almost every part of the ray," Smits, based in Eindhoven, Netherlands, said. "

"The animal was in freak mode, starting to swim around to try to get free, but then it understood that it was stuck."

The team worked together to hold the distressed ray while carefully cutting away the entangling rope with knives.

"We try to safely cut pieces of the rope around the face, and it swims away again, but we pull it back towards us," Smits said. "

"With the whole team, we tried to hold the animal close while they switched with the knife and tried to safely cut around the rope so we don't hit the animal."

"Pulling up the animal was really not an easy task - we really needed some muscles to keep the line up."

"The line is very sharp, and if the animal starts swimming, you really have to release the rope, otherwise, it could cut you completely open."

The ray was injured but survived.

"The beautiful thing was we cut her free, we released her, and she swam away about 30m, and then it felt like she decided to come back," Smits said. "

"She really swam back to us and did a 'thank you' circle. She came right between us to our faces, almost giving us a grateful hug."