Locals and forest rangers worked together to rescue a baby elephant that had fallen into an open farm well in southern India.

The little one fell into the well when its herd entered farmland in Tholkudy Sudarshan on Wednesday night (March 6).

Unable to pull the baby out of their own, the elephants started running amok and trumpeting intermittently.

Local villagers were woken up by the herd's desperate cries. They initially didn't venture out of their houses fearing attack from the herd. But soon they mustered the courage to call the forest rangers and informed them about the incident.

Once the rescue team arrived, the villagers and forest rangers tried to chase the herd members away from the well where the baby had fallen. However, the efforts to drive away the elephants came to a nought.

They could start the operation only after the day broke and the herd moved to the nearby forest by around 7 am.

According to forest officials, earth movers were deployed to break one side of the wall of the well to make a ramp for the baby to climb out.

After a five-hour-long operation, the baby elephant wriggled and climbed out of the well at around 11.30 am on Thursday (March 7). It crossed the river and entered the forest to join the herd, which was waiting impatiently around 500m from the well.

Though the elephant had sustained bruises on its trunk after it fell into the well, the Forest veterinarian Fiji Fernandes said it was healthy.