Horse rescued after five days in underground bunker

A two-year-old horse has been rescued after being stuck in an underground chamber for five days.

Chico fell through a hole in the ground near a farm in Knottingley, West Yorkshire, on Saturday 14 July.

He was stuck in the concrete bunker for five days before firefighters dug him out on Thursday 19 July.

Eleven firefighters worked for four hours to free him. He was sedated and walked out, uninjured.

“We were called out on the Wednesday (18 July) and could hear an animal in distress but didn’t know where it was coming from. We spent three hours looking but couldn’t find him,” Pete Owen from West Yorkshire Fire Service told H&H.

“The next day the owners had found him – he had fallen into a bunker through a foot-thick concrete roof. It had steel walls and concrete slabs,he’d fallen through a 2ft hole in the ground.

“We assessed him and he was fine, so a vet sedated him and we dug through the walls to get him out.

“It was remarkable – after being down there for five days he was absolutely fine. We’ve been called out to other trapped animals in the past but the outcome hasn’t been as positive. He’s now back in the field with the other horses.”

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