Mumbai, Mar 28 (IANS): In a happy ending, a full-grown brown cow that had fallen and got trapped in a dry drain near Dadar was rescued after over five hours on Monday afternoon, the Mumbai Fire Brigade said.

A team of fire brigade officials rushed to the spot and launched a rescue operation, but found the cow rendered virtually immobile in the narrow drain, around 8-10 feet deep.

Initially, the rescuers toyed with the idea of deploying an earthmover to demolish the sidewalls of the drain, but dropped the idea as it could have proven risky to the bovine.

Later, a couple of civic employees worked with heavy-duty drills to loosen and dismantle the concrete drain walls to clear the approach route to the trapped creature.

As the space opened up, the fire brigade teams managed to lasso the cow with ropes, made it stand and then hoisted it out of the drain.

Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar reached the spot to oversee the rescue operation and scores of curious onlookers who gathered there cheered and clapped as the hungry and scared bovine was lifted out of the trap-hole.

The shaken bovine was handed over to its caretaker who gave it water and food and then took it away for care.

The caretaker said the concrete lid of the drain, reportedly damaged, suddenly gave away, taking the cow with it at around 7 am on Monday, outside the Kabutarkhana locality.