Asia

Rangers free 6 trapped baby elephants in Thailand

Associated Press
Published | Updated

In this photo released and taken by Department of Natural Park, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation on Thursday, March 28, 2019, Thap Lan National Park rangers prepare to extract six baby elephants stuck in a muddy pond at Thap Lan National Park, Nakhon Ratchasima province, northeastern Thailand. The park rangers took five hours to dig out a path to save the six elephant calves after they were found trapped in a muddy pond. (Department of Natural Park, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation via AP)

In this photo taken and released by the Department of Natural Park, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation Thursday, March 28, 2019, Thap Lan National Park rangers prepare to extract six baby elephants stuck in a muddy pond at Thap Lan National Park, Nakhon Ratchasima province, in northeastern Thailand. Park rangers took five hours to dig out a path to save six elephant calves after they were found trapped in a muddy pond. (Department of Natural Park, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation via AP)

Rangers at a national park in northeastern Thailand have rescued six baby elephants that were trapped in a mud pit.

Park officials say the elephants were unable to climb up the pit's slippery banks. Rescuers took five hours on Thursday to dig a path for them to clamber out.

A video taken by rangers at Thap Lan National Park in Nakhon Ratchasima province shows the baby elephants climbing one by one from the muddy ditch.

The head of the park, Prawatsart Chantep, says rangers found the animals stuck in the pit on Wednesday afternoon. He said there were signs that a herd of elephants believed to be related to the trapped infants was circling the area.

It was unclear how the elephants became trapped.