A family of beachgoers filmed the moment they helped an injured and stranded baby humpback whale get back into the water before it dies of dehydration.

Thialis Braga and his family were having a beach day near the municipality of Nova Vicosa, in the state of Bahia in North-East Brazil on 15th July when they spotted something unusual on the shore.

The stranded whale was first found by the children of his family, who saw the whale and “left screaming”.

A closer look revealed it was only a baby whale that somehow swam too close to the shallow end and accidentally got stranded.

Likely worried it might die if it was not helped immediately, Thialis and his family rushed over to help the poor creature get back to the open sea.

A video taken during the final moments of the rescue appears to show two men making their way through the large waves while pushing along the heavy animal.

A group of women and teenagers are heard loudly cheering as the little humpback whale gets into deep-enough water to be able to swim away safely.

It disappears into the sea as the delighted family applauds its departure before the video ends.

Speaking later to local media, Thialis said: “We decided to do the rescue and everything went well

“It’s like winning the lottery, nobody imagines that something like this will happen. Everyone was delighted to be able to help.

“My daughter’s dream was to know the sea, we came and everything happened.

“The whale had just been born and I don’t know if it was running away from predators, but it was injured.”

According to Thialis, there were previously two failed rescue attempts.

It was only when the tide rose that he and his family were able to take the baby whale out to sea.

Thialis claimed he tried to get in touch with local authorities, but decided to take matters into his own hands after they failed to respond with urgency or take into account that the animal was weakened and needed to return to the water.