This is the heartwarming moment an elephant trapped in a 20ft deep sewage pit was rescued in India.

Footage shows wildlife rangers from the Ministry of Environment and Forests digging up the earth with an excavator to create a path on which the distressed jumbo could walk in Karnataka, India, on July 18.

The mud-streaked elephant sauntered back into the woods after the rescue.

A spokesman for the local forestry team said: 'Under the leadership of DFO Jagannath and ACF Nehru, the team executed a successful operation to free the wild elephant and safely return it to its natural habitat in the forest.

'The coordinated efforts of personnel such as RFO KM Devaiah and DRFO Sanjit Somaiah were instrumental in the successful rescue mission.'

The Indian sub-continent has at least 30,000 wild elephants - more than any other country and approximately 60 per cent of the world's entire Asian elephant population.