Brazil: Local community members came together to help a baby humpback whale that got stranded at a beach near Rio de Janeiro.

The creature measuring 32 feet was found washed up at a beach in Buzios, nearly 200 kilometres from the Brazilian capital.

Videos and images of the mammoth feat were shared on social media by local newspaper Folha de Buzios, reports NDTV.

The animal was spotted by some residents in the area who alerted officials and locals. Nearly three hundred people joined rescue operations to free the animal from its misery.

Locals dug through sand to create a trench for water to flow in so that the animal could be re-floated. Many even stayed up all night pouring water on it to keep it cool. While the animal was alive, it struggled to breathe, Daily Mail quotes biologists.

According to local biologists, the whale weighed about 4 tonnes and may have separated from its mother during low tide.

After several hours of hard work, people managed to lift the animal and take it into water with the help of ropes and diggers. The whale swam back to safety to the sound of cheers and applause filling up the beach by the same people who saved it.