Elephant in Sri Lanka rescued from sea, video shows

An elephant who was swept out to sea off a Sri Lankan coast has been rescued, according to the country’s navy.

The elephant was stranded about 10 miles off the country’s northeast coast, The Guardian reported. The friendly giant was caught up in a rip current off the coast and pulled away into the ocean, where it was seen by a patrol boat.

The spotted elephant swimming out at sea was apparently not as incredible a feat as it seemed.

“They’re very good swimmers,” Avinash Krishnan, a conservation research officer, told The Guardian. “Swimming about 15km from the shore is not unusual for an elephant.”

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Divers were dispatched to rescue the elephant in what was reportedly a 12-hour process.

Wildlife officials who swam out to the elephant tied ropes to it and gently brought him back to a shallow area near the coast, where The Guardian reported it was released.