Hundreds try to save beached great white shark

Hundreds of beach-goers banded together to try and save a great white shark on Sunday.

The 14-foot-adult male washed up onto Whitecrest Beach in Wellfleet, Massachusetts.

A huge crowd of people worked to move the shark, which weighed more than 900 kg, back into the ocean.

He did not survive, despite the incredible effort displayed among the rescuers.

Robyn Schnaible, who posted the video showing the heroic rescue effort, was visiting the area with her family when she came upon the people working together to save the shark.

Several beach-goers are seen pouring buckets of water over the shark’s head and body while the others dug a pool and a trench in the sand to drag it back into the ocean.

Schnaible wrote in the video description that the rescuers tied one end of the rope around its tail and the other end was attached to a boat.

“It was an impressive effort, but unfortunately the shark did not swim off once he was back in the water,” she wrote.

As the rescuers are heard cheering after the shark gets back into the water, a uniformed official walked through the crowd, yelling at everyone to get back.

Wellfleet Police Sgt. Mike Turner told CBS that the shark already appeared to be sick or injured from the red colouring visible on its belly.

Greg Skomal, a shark expert with this Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, performed a necropsy on the shark. He told the Boston Globe that “the shark began to bleed internally under its own weight,” when it became stranded on the beach.

“I’ve responded to numerous shark sightings, but never a shark that was washed on the shore like this,” Turner told CBS. “It was certainly something different.”