An excavator was used to help a stranded elephant out of a deep ditch in Keremule, Karnataka, on April 10.

Footage shows the exhausted elephant, estimated to be 14 to 16 years old, leaning against the side of the muddy ditch after attempting to get out on its own.

Wildlife officials used an excavator to help push the jumbo out of the ditch during a two-hour rescue operation.

The elephant then made its way back into the forest.

An elephant was rescued after it had fallen into a deep trench where it had gone to drink water in southern India's Karnataka.

The elephant had become trapped in a trench in Keremule in Kushalnagar taluk of Kodagu district on April 9 and was rescued on April 10.

Visuals showed the elephant lying in an exasperated condition inside the trench. It had probably gotten tired after all the effort it made to come out of the trench it had fallen into. The pachyderm was also seen getting up and trying to make its way out of the trench but all his effort turned out to be unsuccessful. A big crowd had gathered in the area as a trench. The elephant was eventually rescued from the trench with the help of an excavator which pushed the pachyderm out of the pit and brought it out in the open.

According to a report, the elephant in question is a 14-16-year-old and it had gotten trapped in the trench in a bid to look for water and food. The forest officials took cognizance of the matter and rescued the elephant with the help of an excavator. After two whole hours of hard work, the elephant was rescued and released into the forest.

Speaking to Newslions, Ratan Kumar, the RFO of Kushalnagar said that information about the elephant falling into the pit was sent by a local guard at 8:30 am IST (Indian Standard Time) and a team was subsequently dispatched to handle the situation. By 11:30 am IST, the elephant was rescued. Gopal(ACF), DYRF devaiya, DYRF Ranjan, guard siddarama aur RRT (rapid response team) were the others involved in this rescue operation.

Rathan Kumar said, “The rescued elephant had come from the Anekadu forest near Balugodu. As it appeared to be in good health, we did not administer any medical care. Since last week, villagers had been reporting incidents of wild elephants damaging agricultural crops such as bananas, coconuts, and walnuts.”