This is the emotional moment an elephant swam across the heavily flooded River Ganga near Raghopur in Northern India carrying its mahout on its back.

Mahout underestimated the force of the current and as the elephant stepped into the river it was swept away by the powerful current along with its master.

The Elephant was gasping for breath and exhausted. But it managed to hold its breath and swim to the shore. the current was too strong for this one. Both are lucky to be alive,”

The mahout, Dasai Das, was trying to take his animal "Mahasundara" from Rustampur Ghat to Jethuli Ghat navigating a distance of one kilometre across the river.

Eyewitnesses said the duo came close to drowning a few times on July 12 and almost cross safely.

A local resident, Ranjan Kumar Singh, who was crossing the river on a boat, was stunned to see the duo struggling to stay afloat and pulled out his mobile camera to film the unusual incident.