A wild elephant was rescued by members of the forest department after it fell into a water-filled pit in southern India's Kerala.

This incident took place in Kottappady of Ernakulam district of the state on April 12.

Visuals showed the elephant struggling to come out of the water-filled pit. The massive pachyderm kept swimming around in the pit and stretched its trunk in a desperate bid to get some help but it didn't arrive initially. A massive crowd had gathered at the spot where this took place. The elephant didn't give up though, it dug out an opening with its trunk on one side of the pit in an attempt to come out and later, the forest department officials rushed to the spot to aid the wild animal. Later on, an excavator was seen being used to help the pachyderm come out of the pit.

Speaking to Newslions, Geo Basil Paul (Range Forest Officer said, "The elephant at 2:00 am IST (Indian Standard Time) fell into a pit and the forest department got information about the same at 3:00 am. The rescue operation started at 5:00 am and lasted for more than 12 hours as it came to an end at 5:30 pm. He also added saying that, after the elephant fell into the pit, Section 144 of CrPC was announced in the Kottappady panchayat for 24 hours to tranquilise and rescue the wild animal. But, later on, after a lot of hard work of the team, pulled off the successful rescue of the elephant".

DFO Kura Srinivas led the rescue operation which also included the RFO Geo Basil Paul , forest guards and SFPF (Special Forest Protection Force). The elephant was seen walking away into the wild after being rescued.