This is the moment a herd of elephants rescue a calf from drowning in a South Africa national park.

The footage, filmed in Kruger National Park on April 9, shows the baby elephant getting rescued after its herd realise it had wandered into deep waters.

"Not much mercy when you are a young elephant, it's sink or swim!" the filmer - a regular to the area - can be heard saying in his native Afrikaans to his wife in the video.

He later told Newsflare: “We feared for the worst, with the baby elephant frantically trying not to drown while any commotion in the water is usually a dinner bell for one of the many large crocodiles frequenting the deep waters.”

“The herd finally realised that the calf was missing and going to drown when the mother and three others in the herd raced back through the water to attempt a rescue mission,” he continued.

The baby elephant managed to get onto the back of one of the elephants but it was not long before it fell behind again, making the mother elephant turn around again to go and rescue her seriously struggling baby.

With incredible teamwork, the elephants finally managed to get under the baby to push it forward and lift it to the river bank to be reunited with its herd.