Dozens of newborn leatherback sea turtles are given a helping hand into the ocean after they hatched on a beach.

The first of the hatched endangered turtles appeared in the sand in Phang Nga, southern Thailand on Sunday (January 19).

Officers had to dig out a path to help the rest of the babies as they were worried that not all of them could escape the sand by themselves.

They guarded the area until they found another 24 babies which hatched later that night. They then helped them crawl from the egg pit into the sea to begin their long lives in the ocean.

Provincial governor Jumroen Thippayapongthada even brought the cake to celebrate the birth of the baby turtles.

The director-general of the sea department said his staff deserved the credit as they had overseen the pit since the mother turtle laid her eggs last November.

He said: "I want to thank all the staff for taking good care of the eggs pit because the elusive leatherback turtle has not laid eggs on our beach for five years until last year.

"We think it is a good sign that our beach environment has been improving and good enough for the leatherback to lay eggs and it was important to keep those eggs safe for increasing the race number again."