Residents of Birtola village under the Badgaon Forest Range in Sundargarh district rescued an elephant from a slush-filled well in the locality after five hours of efforts.
A herd of 18 elephants had strayed from a forest into the village in search of food late on Wednesday night. On their way back to the forest, one of animals fell into the well and got stuck in it.
Early on Thursday morning, villagers spotted the elephant struggling to get out of the well.
Later, forest officials from Badgaon and Fire Services personnel from Kutra reached the spot. Hundreds of villagers helped the officials in the operation to rescue the elephant. Since the well was filled with mud following heavy rain, it took them about five long hours to get the pachyderm out of it with the help of huge belts.
In a video of the rescue operation, the villagers were seen cheerful after the elephant came out of the captivity and went back into the forest.