One mother said she feared her child would die after she fell five feet into a sewer drain during a morning walk.
Amy Blyth, 23, was with her 18-month-old son, Theo Prior, when she disappeared through a drain cover, which then turned and closed over him.
The images, captured by CCTV from a neighboring house, show the moment when the quick-thinking personal trainer tore off the metal roof and jumped into the drain to rescue him, pulling him out of the river of human waste. Tenterden, Kent.
He climbed the ledge on the side of the sewer to reach Theo, who had fallen to the bottom of the drain.
Describing the timing of the “horror movie,” he said, “My first thought was, ‘My God, he’s dead.’
“I took the lid off the drain and only saw it down there, shouting my name. There was sewage down to his knees.
“I jumped down the drain, but it’s not big enough to bend over to grab it. I had to arch my body to grab it and pull it up.
“I don’t know how I did it. My body went in ways I had never bent over, just to get it out of that drain.”
The terrified child, who is said to have swallowed some sewage, was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was diagnosed with a mild concussion, but x-rays revealed that he had miraculously escaped without any broken bones.
Image: It fell five feet to the bottom of the storm drain
“I thought I would lose him”
Ms Blyth said: “It could have ended much worse. If I had fallen head over heels, I don’t even know if I would be here.
“It hurts to think so. It’s an absolute nightmare: I’m petrified by the drains now. I still feel very shaken by it. I can’t really get over it.
“It literally went straight to the bottom, and I thought I’d lose it. It was actually like a horror movie.”
Mrs. Blyth came out of the drain “screaming for help,” while Theo, in an apparent state of shock, “wasn’t really making noise.”
He said he was afraid to think what would have happened if the boy had fallen down the drain cover without being seen.
“You couldn’t even hear it because it’s soundproof,” he said.
“I could have fallen, and I would have been running around the block trying to find it, not in a drain.”
Image: Amy, fast-thinking, jumped into the storm drain to rescue him
Theo is now home and is recovering, but Mrs Blyth has complained to Southern Water and said she “needs answers”.
Southern Water is understood to be working to establish who is responsible for the drain and fence.
About four investigators were seen in the area yesterday investigating the causes of the accident.
The utility company confirmed that it is investigating and taking the matter “very seriously”.
Image: The child was covered in sewage
A company spokesman said: “We are aware of a situation involving a child and an open mouth.
“This is clearly a worrying situation for those involved and our team is in place. A dedicated liaison officer has been assigned to support the family.
“We take this issue very seriously and our first priority was to make the area safe. The next steps are to understand exactly what happened.”
Southern Water has been contacted for an update on its research.