Sundargarh: An elephant submerged deep inside a muddy open well close to Dumerta village in this district was miraculously rescued after a harrowing two-hour rescue operation by forest department and fire officials. Nobody knows, how the elephant fell into the well, but it was the herculean efforts of the forest department personnel to rescue it and set it free.
It was Thursday early morning when locals found the adult elephant stuck right in the middle of the well with its entire body submerged in muddy water. Only the top of the elephant’s head and body could be seen. They informed the forest department who in turn alerted the fire department officials. They then got together to try and pull out the elephant with ropes.
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The elephant can be seen desperately thrashing in the muddy water, with forest officials trying their best in pulling up the elephant from all the corners of the well using ropes. Videos of the rescue effort have also gone viral.
With a huge collective effort, the officials, with the help of many villagers, manage to pull the elephant out of the water. In one of the videos it is seen that the elephant, in order to not sink into the mud, is desperately holding on to a branch of a tree. Finally, however, it is pulled out of the well and the elephant is seen running away.
The elephant was reportedly a part of a herd of 18 elephants which had come close to Dumerta village Wednesday night. Officials had initially thought of using JCB machines to pull the elephant out but could not do so because of the mud.
“We found the elephant in a very distressed state as it looked tired,” a forest official said after the completion of the rescue effort.
“We tried to get two JCBs to the spot for digging a path but the heavy machines could not reach near the well because of slushy condition there. The fire service personnel used their long ropes and managed to pull the jumbo out,” the official added.
PNN & Agencies
Elephant, Well, Sundargarh, Rescue, Forest