Wayanad (Kerala), July 4 After a struggle of many hours and the effort of villagers, the life of an elephant which was stuck in a muddy swamp in the remote village of Madaki estate in Kerala's Wayanad district, was saved on Saturday.

The elephant named Ramachandran was owned by Kottayam resident, Mr. Samuel, and was brought to roll out heavy logs from an estate when it slipped into the nearby muddy pit.

Initial efforts were made to rescue the elephant by a heavy crane. It was finally rescued after local villagers stepped in and put wooden logs to get it a grip in the mud.

The tusker was rescued at 10.45 a.m. this morning.

According to Shyam Kumar, one of the rescuers, people only saw the elephant's trunk and head lying out of a pit.

"Early morning people while their morning walk saw the elephant's head and trunk lying out of the pit, I rushed to this place and that time no one was around, so we all decided to rescue it with what was available locally and gathered more people from nearby places and that worked well. The elephant was in a very bad condition at that time," Kumar said.

Forest officials have examined the animal and passed it fit. By Juhan Samuel (ANI)