Rangers at a national park in northeastern Thailand have rescued six baby elephants that were trapped in a mud pit. The rescue operation took five hours to complete, as the rangers had to dig a path to help the elephants clamber out of the pit. Park officials said the elephants were unable to climb up the pit’s slippery banks. The head of the park, Prawatsart Chantep, said rangers found the trapped animals while patrolling the park’s forest areas on Wednesday afternoon. At nightfall, one group of rangers left to get help while another group remained with the elephants. Prawatsart said there were signs that a herd of elephants believed to be related to the trapped infants were circling the area. It was unclear how the babies became trapped. A video taken by rangers shows the baby elephants climbing out of the muddy ditch one by one.