A baby elephant was heroically rescued after getting stuck in a hole - but the tourists on safari who helped save it were later devastated to discover the same animal torn apart by hyenas days later.

In video dating from October 2014 from Chobe National Park in Botswana filmed by Czech national Pavel Merunko, the tourists enlist the help of some initially reluctant local rangers, who use heavy-duty chains to pull the elephant out of the hole - but only after they were paid 100 euros, according to Merunko.

He says the elephant was seven-years-old and weighed two tons.

Merunko told Newsflare that at first he and his wife first assumed the elephant was dead when they spotted a foot sticking out of a hole from 20 metres away.

"Then," writes Merunko, "a huge limb moved. 'It lives!' he recalls thinking.

The pain-staking rescue from the pit took four hours. Merunko claims that elephants themselves had dug the hole in order to search for water.

"We were digging in the hard sand, swallowing dust and with the constant fear of being surprised by a returning herd of elephants or lion pride, which might hunt the calf."

Merunko, who makes around three trips to Africa a year and was on this particular safari with his wife Vera, said the calf was devouring litres of water in an attempt to cool down its exhausted body in the 40 degrees C heat.

"We were trying to lift it up, pulling its tusks and pushing the elephant's back (and) we used a strong chain to pull it out of the hole.

"Finally we managed it and at the moment when the sun went down, the elephant was saved.

"With joy and happiness we headed back to camp in the hope that in the cold night the calf would relax and become strong or its elephant family would come back for him."

But elation quickly turned to sadness.

The following day Merunko returned to the same location and found the elephant once again stuck in the hole. Unable this time to stage another rescue, they had no choice but to leave the elephant behind.

Returning once again to the spot two days after that, Merunko was met with a truly devastating sight.

The elephant that they had rescued just three days earlier had died and been ripped apart by a pack of hyenas.

"We experienced the bitterness of wild nature," Merunko says. "Elephants can dig their own graves."

DOWNLOAD AN EXTENDED EDIT HERE, INCLUDING SCENES FROM WHEN THE TOURISTS REVISITED THE RESCUE SPOT AND FOUND THE ELEPHANT:
https://www.newsflare.com/video/184841/animals/tragic-demise-of-baby-elephant-rescued-by-safari-tourists