This is the dramatic moment a mum jumped into a drain shaft to rescue her 18-month-old son after a drain cover he was walking on gave way – you can see it here:
Amy Blyth was out walking with her young son Theo in Ashford, Kent, on Sunday (22 May) when the toddler fell through the drain cover, which then flipped over and closed on top of him.
The 23-year-old yanked off the metal drain cover and hopped down the shaft into the sewer to rescue little Theo.
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Thankfully, he wasn’t seriously injured in the incident but Amy says he’s been left having nightmares and calls out for her in the night.
Talking about the incident, Amy said: "My first thought was 'oh my God, he's dead'.
"I yanked the drain lid out, and I just saw him down there, screaming my name. There was sewage up to his knees.
"I jumped down the drain, but it's not big enough for me to bend over to grab him. I had to sort of arch my body to grab him and pull him up.
"I don't know how I did it. My body went in ways I've never bent before, just to get him out of that drain."
Amy said she stood on the ledges at the side of the sewer so she could reach down and grab her son.
"It was so deep you couldn't see my head from the ground, and I wasn't even on the floor,” she said.
"Just as I pulled him up I think someone flushed a chain because we were soaked – with I think, possibly, wee. Our clothes are absolutely disgusting."
Once out, Amy rushed him to hospital where she was told he had a mild concussion, but luckily hadn’t broken any bones in the fall.
Amy is now trying to get answers from Southern Waters about the faulty drain cover.
Amy said: "If he'd been on his own, or if it had been another kid on their own, we wouldn't have found him.
"We wouldn't have known where they'd gone. You couldn't even hear him because it's sound-proof.
"He could have fallen down and I'd have gone running round the block trying to find him, not in a drain."
She added: "My little boy shouldn't have fallen through a drain. It's not acceptable. We need some answers to why it wasn't fixed."
A spokesman for Southern Water said: "We are aware of a situation involving a child and an open manhole.
"This is clearly an upsetting situation for those involved and our team is on-site. A dedicated customer liaison officer has been assigned to support the family.
"We are taking this matter very seriously and our first priority was to make the area safe. Next steps are to understand exactly what happened."
Topics: UK News
Claire Reid