Elephant all at sea before navy’s successful 12-hour rescue mission
SRI LANKA: It’s a good thing the elephant packed its trunk or it might have been the last we saw of it. One of the animals was swept 16 kilometres out to sea before being saved in a 12-hour operation involving the Sri Lankan navy.
The elephant is thought to have been caught in strong currents as it tried to navigate a shallow area of a coastal lagoon before it was carried into open water towards Burma.
Officers on board a small warship cruising off the northeast coast of the island saw the elephant and quickly realised it was in difficulty. Video footage showed it struggling and distressed in the swell, desperately trying to keep its trunk above water.
Another warship and a team of elite divers from the army’s rapid Action Boat Squadron were called in to try to save the animal’s life. With the boats nearby, the divers clambered on top of the elephant and managed to secure a rope around its body to keep it afloat.
Further ropes were added before a patrol boat towed the elephant back towards land, with it mostly submerged but using its trunk as a snorkel. Once back in shallow waters, it was released and made its way back on to dry land, seemingly unharmed.
Elephants are excellent swimmers, and despite their size are surprisingly buoyant in water. However, they can tire quickly and officials said had this one not been spotted its survival would have been unlikely.
A navy spokesman, Chaminda Walakuluge, said the elephant had probably been caught by a current as it crossed part of the Kokkilai lagoon in a coastal jungle area. ‘‘They usually wade through shallow waters or even swim across to take a short cut. It is a miraculous escape for the elephant.’’
The navy hailed its lifesaving achievement but acknowledged it had not been all its own work: ‘‘A group of officials from the Department of Wildlife also joined this humongous task . . . which became extremely vital in the rescue mission. Accordingly, they were able to carefully direct the elephant towards the coast from the deep sea, by means of ropes.’’
Elephants are thought to have reached Sri Lanka by swimming across the narrow channel from southern India, a distance of about 25km.
In the Andaman Islands, farther to the north, native elephants in family groups navigate the seas that separate the archipelago. In 2011 the first national survey of Sri Lanka’s wild elephant population reported 5879 were living freely on the island. – The Times