A team of scuba divers recorded their efforts to save a giant whale shark that had become caught in a thick piece of rope.

Simone Musumeci and Antonio Di Franca, who run a diving tour agency, had taken a group into the waters off the island of Fuvahmulah, Maldives, in December last year.

It was there that they spotted a whale shark with a thick rope tied across its body before filming their attempts to rescue it.

In the underwater footage, the shark, which appears to be more than 12-feet long, can be seen swimming in the distance.  

It has a thick, moss-coloured fishing rope tightly binding its body between its head and its pectoral fins.

The clip then cuts to the group desperately clutching on to the rope as they saw away at it with pen-knives.