This is the heartening moment villagers cheered as a trapped elephant climbed out of a muddy pit in Thailand.

Footage shows the locals crowding around the jumbo that had fallen into the swamp in Udon Thani province on October 26.

An earlier rescue attempt using a crane had failed due to the creature's weight and the slippery ground underfoot.

Instead, volunteers brought a tractor to dig along the pond's banks, creating a gentler slope for the animal to tread on.

The spectators applauded as the elephant hauled itself up. It eventually made its way to safety, drawing relieved applause from the residents.

Onlooker Thawachai said: 'The elephant belonged to a local family but it escaped during a thunderstorm. The man had to climb onto his elephant to help guide it out of the water.'

Thailand has an estimated 2,000 Asian elephants living in the wild where they wander freely among protect forests. However, there is often conflict when they come into contact with humans on roads and in villages.

A similar number of elephants are kept in captivity where they work in the tourist industry or get hired out for religious festivals and weddings. A small number still work in commercial logging.