A man who helped rescue what he believed was a dolphin was stunned to realise it was in fact a shark.

Nicolas Andre was on holiday in Cornwall with his wife Ann, when he spotted the 12ft animal in distress in shallow waters on Portreath Beach.

The animal was being rescued by another man, Mark Ashmore, who initially went to help.

It was only when Mr Andre climbed down on to the beach to get closer did he realise it was a shark that had been trapped by the outgoing tide.

Mr Andre said: "I realised that it was not a dolphin but a basking shark of about four metres in length. I've never seen a shark that close - let alone touched one in my whole life."

Mr Andre and Mr Ashmore wrapped a T-shirt around its tail and pulled it into deeper water.

"It took a few attempts to pull it into the sea as we were waiting for the waves," Mr Andre said.

"When it was back in the water, I took my T-shirt off the tail and it was a like a switch had been flicked - the shark just flew off," he said.

Mr Andre suffered cuts to his arms and legs in the rescue but he did not feel the shark was aggressive or dangerous.

Basking sharks regularly visit the Cornish coast in the summer months and pose no risk to humans as they only eat Plankton and do not have teeth.