An eager mother elephant kept an anxious watch as Indian forest officials rescued her calf from a septic tank.

The mother stood close by and waited patiently for over three hours on June 22 till the men pulled out the calf.

The mother and calf had entered the village in Dihadol forest section in eastern India late in the night looking for food and had fallen into the tank.

While the mother managed to climb up the tank, she was unable to bring her calf out and was trumpeting in distress.

Alerted by villagers, the forest staff reached the spot and dug a way out of the tank to help the calf walked out on its own.

Range Forest Officer Harmohan Singh, who supervised the operation, said the mother and the calf returned to the forest without any injury.

“The mother elephant did not threaten anyone and allowed the rescue workers do their work peacefully,” said Ranjan Mohanty, a local villager.