Forest & Fire personnel rescue elephant from deep dug well

An adult elephant which had fallen into a deep dug well in Odisha's Sundargarh district was rescued by Forest and Fire Service department officials on Thursday.

A herd of 18 elephants had come close to the Dumerta village on Wednesday night. While they were being chased away by the villagers, one of the elephant fell into the deep dug well filled with water, Forest officials said.

"We found the elephant in a very distressed state as it looked tired ...", said Forest Range officer of Bargaon, Bijay Mahapatra.

The fire department was informed about it and they arrived at the scene for the rescue operation, he said.

It took about two hours to rescue the elephant on Thursday morning, the officials said.

"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 said.

Meanwhile, a herd of about 20 elephants has come close to Rourkela city as they reached the edge of Jalda RR Colony, which is just five km away from here, Forest officials said.

"We are planning to drive them away this evening if weather god remains kind towards us. In inclement weather, it is difficult to drive away elephants because there is a threat to life," said ACF Rourkela Dilip Sahu.