elephant stuck in muddy well

In a heroic attempt, a full-grown elephant was rescued by villagers in Sundargarh in Odisha after nearly two hours when he fell into an open muddy well.

The elephant was stuck in the well, which also had muddy water and only the top of its back and head were visible.

A video tweeted by ANI showed the villagers trying to pull the animal out of the water which was quite a difficult task given its size and strength. The video showed a huge crowd gathered around the well which had water till the top. Officials then tied ropes around the animal's torso and they took two hours to pull it out of the water.

The villagers helped officials to pull the elephants out of the water and it took numerous tries before they were successful. The elephant began panicking and could be seen thrashing desperately. With the help of the villagers, the officials managed to bring the giant beast to the edge and it seemed to have understood the aim because the elephant also tried to push itself up with the help of a long stick across the well.

The final rescue attempt showed the elephant being pulled to the edge of the well and it managed to get itself out and ran into the forest while everyone was cheering.

According to a report by NDTV, the elephant belonged to a herd of 18 elephants and they spotted were near the Dumerta village in Sundargarh in Odisha before they were chased away by villagers. However, this elephant got caught in the well and couldn't escape.

According to reports, officials first wanted to pull the elephant out using JCB cranes but they could not do so because of the mud.

"We tried to get two JCBs to the spot for digging a path but the heavy machines could not reach near the well because of slushy condition there ... The fire service personnel used their long ropes and managed to pull the jumbo out," an official was quoted as saying by PTI.