Elephant lifted from well in rescue effort in India

Remarkable footage has captured the moment an elephant was rescued from a 20-feet well after a 36-hour long operation in Chattisgarh, India. 

A team of rescuers dug a path to the well and used two cranes to haul up the adult female elephant, who had injured its front leg in the fall. 

They wrapped a lifting sling around the stomach of the behemoth and harnessed it to the excavators, which lifted the elephant and placed it on a truck. 

The elephant had fallen into the well after she and her herd were chased by villagers in the Surajpur district, who suspected the creatures of trying to raid their crops. 

The villagers had woken to the sound of the 18-member herd and had managed to chase them away by lighting up torches and waiving them at the intruders. 

However, as the elephants ran back to the nearby Pratappur forest, one of them fell into a dry well in the darkness. 

The rescue team were called by locals who had become alerted to the incident by the cries of fellow elephants 

Two cranes were needed to haul the elephant out of the well after its front leg had been injured in the fall

The rescue effort took 36 long hours and the elephant needed to be tranquilised for the operation

It is thought that the elephant had fallen into the well after running away from villagers who suspected the herd of eating their crops

The villagers heard the cries of the herd, which had surrounded the well, and alerted local forest officials.  

The rescuers rushed to the spot and started the rescue operation the following morning, by which time the herd had retreated to the forest. 

Forest officials have said the rescued elephant will be treated for injuries and then sent back to the forest.

Once the elephant was lifted from the well it was placed in a truck and taken to be treated for its injuries

The elephant will be treated and then returned to Pratappur forest, which is in the Chhattisgarh region of India