TRICHY: After more than five hours of struggle, a team comprising of forest department officials, fire and rescue services personnel and mahouts rescued a 26-year-old female elephant , which fell into Uyyakondan canal near Somarasampettai in Trichy on Friday night.The elephant belonged to one Sukumar, who hailed from Samayapuram. Sources said that it was trained to mainly feature in private functions and other festivals. According to the officials, the elephant, called as ‘Lucky Mani’, was taken to an ear-piercing function which was held near Vayalur on Friday evening.At around 7.30pm, when the elephant was on its way back with two men, who used to take care of it, it saw a few buffaloes and got scared. As a result, it ran into the Uyyakondan canal at Nachikurichi. "Once it got into the water, it immediately got excited – as elephants usually do – and stayed for some time. But after a while, it tried to get out of the canal, but didn’t know its way out and got stuck," a forest official said.The Trichy fire station officers were alerted at around 10pm and they informed the forest department. As a result, personnel from both the departments rushed to the spot and also called a few mahuts and experts for help. Though the team was initially unsure as to how the elephant should be rescued, they then asked the mahouts to direct the elephant to get out. There was water for about eight feet and it made it difficult for the elephant to find a way out. When district collector K Rajamani was notified about the incident, he ordered for discharge of some amount of water from the canal. Finally, at around 12.45am, the elephant received instructions from mahouts and slowly came out. It was then put up in a vehicle and taken back home.

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