Crack rescue team save beloved pet pooch trapped for 27 hours in 15-foot hole after chasing rabbit under a patio
The pooch was chasing a rabbit into a culvert which collapsed
FIREFIGHTERS specialising in disasters saved a dog trapped 27 hours in a tunnel 15ft under a garden.
The nine-hour mission in the night involved camera and listening gear normally used in incidents like building collapses.
After locating the patterdoodle called Moppit, they dug into water tunnels with machinery to reach her.
The pooch had chased a rabbit into a culvert, which collapsed.
Owner Rachel Stormonth-Darling, of Iwerne Minster, Dorset, heard her lost pet whimpering from under the patio of a neighbour after the black dog had been missing for 18 hours.
Rachel, who runs a Dorset travel website, said: "I was scouring the garden when I noticed the stream had gone dry, which had never happened before.
"I put my ear to the connecting tunnel and heard Moppit.
"Then I walked into my neighbours garden and heard her again, this time much more clearly, through a drain and called the fire department."
The search and rescue unit were called to excavate the garden.
Crews had to dig two holes in Mr Gleave’s garden using a heavy-breaking machine.