A CANOEIST has become an overnight hero after live streaming his rescue of three turtles seemingly doomed to die after getting caught in fishing nets off the coast of Brazil.

Rodrigo Oliveira filmed the moment he came across the frantic animals trapped in nets 300 meters long as he went for an early morning row in the Sao Vicente sea off the coast of Sao Paulo on Saturday.

Angered by what he saw, the 42-year-old businessman stopped paddling and hauled the distressed creatures out of the water. All three were found helplessly snarled up in the underwater gear and sinking further beneath the surface as they fought to break free.

The animals would have most certainly drowned as they became increasingly weaker and unable to rise back up for air.

The video, which was over four minutes long, showed the determined seafarer using his bare hands to untangle and rip away the lines — with some difficulty. The mesh was caught in the turtles’ beaks, wrapped around their flippers and slicing between gaps in their shells.

As he pulled off the netting, the Good Samaritan gently reassured the sea reptiles telling each one to stay “calm” because he was there to help them.

And he berated the fishermen calling them “cowards” for their irresponsible and “inhumane” practices that endangered the creatures’ lives.

(SD-Agencies)