Baby elephant hit by motorcycle survives after receiving CPR

Thailand's Mana Srivate has performed dozens of resuscitation attempts during his 26 years as a rescue worker, but never before on an elephant.

Srivate was called into action while off duty on a road trip late on Sunday. He successfully revived a baby elephant struck by a motorcycle while crossing a road with wild pachyderms in the eastern province of Chanthaburi.

In a video that went viral on social media in Thailand on Monday, Srivate is seen giving two-handed compressions to a small elephant lying on its side while colleagues a few metres away treat a dazed and injured motorcycle rider.

Both the rider and elephant were recovering and neither had serious injuries.

“It's my instinct to save lives, but I was worried the whole time because I could hear the mother and other elephants calling for the baby,” Srivate told Reuters by phone.

“I assumed where an elephant heart would be located based on human theory and a video clip I saw online,” he said.

“When the baby elephant started to move, I nearly cried.”

The elephant stood up after about 10 minutes and was taken to another location for treatment before being returned to the scene of the accident in the hope of being reunited with its mother.

The elephants returned when the mother heard her baby calling, Srivate said.

Despite having dealt with dozens of road traffic accidents involving humans, he said the elephant was the only victim he had managed to revive while performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).