Thanks to the collective efforts of locals and tourists, a shark stranded on Kerala’s Varkala beach was rescued. Now, a touching video capturing their initiative is going viral and winning hearts online. The cartilaginous fish became entangled in a fisherman’s net and was pushed back into its habitat after more than three hours of combined efforts.
"Today, we save a life. At about 8 am this morning, on our way to surf lesson, we saw this whale shark stranded on the beach. There were a few local people and tourists trying to help it," said @surferboy_varkala in an Instagram video.
“The shark got caught in the fishermen's net and got pulled to the seashore. A lot of people, including my mum, worked for over three hours to rescue it. They were able to push it deep enough so it could swim. But it wasn't enough for it to go all the way back and so it washed up onto the beach again.”
Locals and tourists tried pushing it back from the shore so that it could swim into deeper water, but were unsuccessful. Later, two rescue boats tied a rope around the shark and gently guided it into the sea. Many rescuers suffered cuts and scrapes from the whale shark’s rough, sandpaper-like skin, but that didn’t stop them from saving its life.
The video of the incident is now doing the rounds on social media, with many applauding the group of strangers for coming together.
Here’s how social media users reacted:
"This is amazing! So proud of the group of people who tried rescuing and putting back the whale shark where it belongs! Kudos," said one user, while another added: “Whatta good life experience and a lesson shown to future gen!”
A third commented: "When I was there, we saw a pod of dolphins and today a whale rolled over. Majestic and mysterious. Bless all the people who helped."
A fourth said: "So inspiring. That whale shark and its friends will thank you guys forever."
