Rawai Mayor Aroon Solos explained that local residents had gone to the beach to clear plastic bottles and other marine debris that had washed ashore, and found the small turtle trapped in a large section of discarded fishing net that had also washed up onto the beach.
The local residents safely cut the turtle free from the net and placed it in a barrel with some seawater until officers from Rawai Municipality arrived, Mr Aroon explained.
Marine life experts from the Phuket Marine Biological Centre (PMBC) were notified and took the turtle into care, he added.