Herd of wild elephants enjoy mud bath near highway in northern India

A herd of at least 18 wild elephants strayed into a national highway, halting traffic on both sides of the road, in northern India's Uttarakhand.

The incident took place along the National Highway 74 in Shyampur area of Haridwar city on June 15.

The video shows the wild elephants walking near a muddy water body in the forest.

Once there, the herd indulges in a mudbath, scooping the muddy water using their trunks and sprinkling it on their bodies.

Meanwhile, forest officials were seen urging people to vacate the area in order to avoid a man-animal conflict and grant the elephants a safe passage to go back to the forest.

The clip also showed traffic congestion on both sides of the road.

The forest department officials started clearing the area and pushing people back from the spot to leave the elephants alone.

According to sources, the elephants come out of the forests and cross the highway every morning.

They are used to crossing the highway and walk into the forest on the opposite side.

Sometimes they cross to drink water from the river Ganga while other times to bathe in the river.

However, this is the only instance when the elephant stayed back next to the highway till afternoon.

One of the officials said that they are trying to push back the elephant into the forest for their and other's safety.