Hero Fisherman Gives Plastic-Trapped Turtle A Second Shot At Life

A hero fisherman went the extra mile after finding an olive ridley sea turtle trapped inside a plastic bag in the Arabian Sea.

Amir Rahim was on board a tuna fishing boat  180 nautical miles off the coast of Karachi, Pakistan, when he spotted the helpless creature.

The fully clothed fisherman dove into the water and tried to liberate the marine reptile from the polypropylene woven bag.

Rahim's crew mates stepped in as he struggled to free the turtle and they helped haul the turtle on board.

The fishermen cut the little creature from the debris and then released it back into the water.

Rahim said he's a trained observer for the World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan  and he's seen plenty of turtles entangled in floating fishing nets  before. But this was the first time he'd witnessed one trapped inside a floating bag.

"Fishermen and other seafarers need to be educated about the hazards of throwing plastic stuff into the sea as it may kill a marine animal," he told Pakistani news website DAWN.com.

The crew filmed the rescue in April and the WWF-P posted the heartwarming footage online on Tuesday, which is now going viral. 

Some 14 billion pounds of garbage is dumped in the world's oceans each year, according to the organization.