Elephant, its calf fall into 20-ft deep well in J'khand's Ramgarh, rescued by Forest dept

Ramgarh, Sep 25 (PTI) An elephant and its calf fell into a 20-foot-deep well while crossing a farmland in Jharkhand's Ramgarh district, a forest official said on Thursday.

The forest department has rescued both the jumbos safely after two hours of operation, he said.

The incident happened at Hesapoda village in Parsadih forest under Gola police station limits.

"Both the elephants were rescued safely, and they left towards the forest. It appears that both elephants fell into the well a day before. Villagers informed the forest department on Thursday morning, and the rescue team was sent to the spot immediately," Ramgarh, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Nitish Kumar told PTI.

He said a herd of 42 elephants was reported in the area for the past one week.

"The herd has moved towards the Bokaro forest range. We suspect the elephant and its calf were part of the herd, and they fell into the well in course of moving to Bokaro," Kumar said.

He said they would make effort in the evening so that the rescued elephants could meet the herd in Bokaro.

According to the villagers, the well is in the open and has no protective barrier around it.

"Due to being covered with bushes, the well is not easily visible," they said. PTI SAN SAN RG