THIS is the devastating moment a mother elephant spends five hours trying to to rescue her dead baby calf trapped under a van.
Grim footage showed the tragic five-year-old male elephant pinned under a 10-tonne lorry while his mother seemingly tried to free him.
The gutwrenching video was recorded at around 2:50am on May 11, on the East-West Highway in the 74,000-acre Belum-Temenggor forest reserve, Malaysia.
It showed a large lorry with its front left side smashed up.
Debris is scattered across the floor while the stationary vehicle‘s lights flash.
The mother elephant leans against the left side of the white lorry – while the calf is sadly squashed underneath.
A subsequent series of poignant footage reveals the mother elephant staying in the same spot hours afterward, seemingly continuing to grieve her calf’s death.
A group of men seemingly attempt to pull the grieving animal away, but fail to make the mother budge following the horrific accident.
The road is a known crossing route for elephants, as well as the critically endangered Malayan tiger.
Director of the Perak Wildlife Protection and National Parks Department Yusoff Shariff said his team were alerted at about 3.30am.
He said: “A male elephant, estimated to be five years old, died after it was believed to have been struck by a truck while trying to cross the road.”
Wildlife officers later moved the animal’s carcass, while the mother elephant was relocated to a safer area.
Local police chief Zulkifli Mahmood said preliminary investigations found the driver was not guilty of negligence during the crash.
The 28-year-old man reportedly saw a large elephant grazing on the right side of the road moments before the accident.
He was transporting poultry at the time.
Having believed it was safe to do so, he drove on, avoiding the elephant.
But that was when the second animal, the calf, emerged on the left side of the road from the forest.
Mahmood said: “The short distance made it impossible for the driver to stop in time, resulting in a fatal collision.
“The baby elephant died at the scene,” he confirmed.
He added that the mother later charged at the lorry following the fatal collision.
The driver managed to get away unharmed, he said.
Cops confirmed heavy fog and lack of road lighting were contributing factors in the horror smash.
Malaysia announced on Monday that it would set up dedicated wildlife crossings into future highway designs following the tragic event.
