The turtle had the net wrapped around its throat (Vincent Legrand/Caters News Agency)

These pictures show the heartbreaking moment a loggerhead sea turtle was found entangled in fishing nets.

The poor creature became trapped in a dumped fishing net floating off the coast of Pico Island in Portugal’s Azores Islands.

It was found by Vincent Legrand, 42, from Sterrebeek, Belgium who noticed that the net had wrapped around the turtle’s neck. He said it was trapped and struggling to breath.

Thankfully, Vincent was able to free the turtle from the three-metre long net.

The turtle was struggling to escape and may well have died without Vincent’s intervention.

Vincent Legrand was able to free the turtle in under two minutes (Vincent Legrand/Caters News Agency)
The turtle was freed and left to swim away (Vincent Legrand/Caters News Agency)

It comes just a couple of weeks after local firemen in Malaysia rescued a critically endangered hawksbill turtle from a metal rubbish trap designed to catch sewage.

The turtle, which weighed 100kg, was miraculously released unharmed in about 30 minutes by the workers.