A rescuer from the Phuket Ruamjai Foundation explained that the elephant went missing from his camp near the Luang Pu Supa Temple. He wandered into a tin lagoon and quickly sank in the deep mud along the edge.
By the time his mahout found him, at around midday, Namboon had sunk so deep that all that could be seen of him was his back, the top of his head, one eye, one ear and the end of his trunk.
It took almost five hours for the mahout, helped by rescuers from the Ruamjai Foundation and the Amazing Bukit Safari to get a heavy-duty sling around the elephant and drag him out with an excavator.
Namboon, exhausted and more than a little muddy, was otherwise none the worse for wear.