A sea turtle was discovered struggling to escape a hole in rocks less than a meter from the sea on a Hawaiian island.
Marine scientist Tommy Cutt received a call about a trapped turtle in Maui, Hawaii.
Footage shows him clambering across the rocks to approach the lapping water before kneeling down to help the turtle.
Marine Scientist Tommy Cutt saved a sea turtle which was trapped between rocks on the island of Maui in Hawaii
Meanwhile another turtle is seen waving its flippers and swimming close to the shore as though it is waiting for its friend.
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Seconds later, Tommy, who is executive director of MOC Marine Institute, pushes his arm between two rocks and pulls up the trapped turtle.
The creature was unable to free itself due to its large shell and became trapped in the deep cut out in the rocks, on December 18.
It was crucial to act quickly as the turtle could have potentially drowned.
He lifted the turtle, which had become trapped due to its large shell, and helped it back into the sea
Some turtle species can remain underwater for hours with Loggerheads holding a record time of four to seven hours.
During their routine day-to-day activity, turtles can hold their breath from 45 minutes to an hour.
However stressed turtles use up oxygen stored in their body and may drown within minutes – and this could have been a strong possibility for this Maui creature.
This comes just weeks after a ‘ghost net’ of fishing ropes and plastics was spotted drifting a mile from the island of Molokini, Hawaii, and threatened marine life.
It was crucial to act quickly as the turtle could have potentially drowned inside the crevice. This comes just weeks after a ‘ghost net’ of fishing ropes and plastics was spotted near the Hawaiian coast and posed a risk to marine life
Scientists found 23 females and nine males around the main Hawaiian Islands in 2017.
Adult turtles were seen in foraging habitats of Maui, Oahu, Kauai, and Hawai‘i Island.
It is thought green turtles might be making a come-back across the US Pacific, after 90.1 per cent of turtles found within the last 13 years were of this kind.
Around 3,400 sea turtles were found between 2002 and 2015, according to research divers.
A female diver swims along side a sea turtle in South Maui (file image)