This animal was saved from a mammoth amount of trouble.

The Sri Lakan navy rescued a struggling elephant after he was washed out to sea, a spokesman told AFP Wednesday.

“It is a miraculous escape for the elephant,” Lieutenant Commander Chaminda Walakuluge, said of the 12-hour rescue expedition.

Walakuluge said the navy embarked on the mission after spotting the pachyderm desperately trying to keep its trunk above water, about five miles off the island’s northern coast.

Navy divers, helped by wildlife officials, approached the distressed beast and tied ropes to it before gently towing it to shallow waters near the coast and releasing it late Tuesday.

Photos and video of the rescue show the poor animal almost completely submerged in the deep water.

Walakuluge said the large mammal most likely got swept into the sea while crossing the Kokkilai lagoon, a large stretch of water between two areas of jungle that elephants sometimes swim across as a shortcut.