A video has emerged on social media of a group of Maltese men saving a turtle who was struggling after finding itself tangled in a fisherman’s net. 

Last Friday, a leatherback turtle was found dead off Gozo after it was severely weakened by ingestion of plastic material which was found in the intestines, showing the damage to marine life plastic litter creates. 

The animal had also been found entangled in drift nets, which also left their toll on the animal.

A necropsy showed that the turtle had died from pneumonia that developed into a generalised inflammation.