Dog rescued from Leeds culvert after 18-hour operation

Josh Longford and Brad Bottomley helped to rescue the stricken dog

A dog has been rescued following an 18-hour operation involving thermal imaging cameras and an excavator after it became stuck 26m (85ft) inside a culvert in Leeds.

Martha the English Bull Terrier ran into the tunnel in Black Carr Woods, Pudsey, on Friday afternoon.

A plea for help was picked up by local drainage firm Dr Drainage who finally freed Martha at 09:00 GMT on Sunday.

Owner Susan O'Reilly Millicent said she was thankful and humbled by their help.

Fez Mazhar, managing director of Dr Drainage, said his business partner, Josh Longford, had seen the post in a Facebook group and wanted to help out.

The English Bull Terrier called Martha ran into the tunnel on Friday afternoon

An excavator was used to dig down to the part of the pipe where Martha was stuck

He said Yorkshire Water and West Yorkshire Fire Service had been called to the scene but more help was needed.

"Josh asked if we could hire an excavator and go on this rescue mission, and I said yes," Mr Mazhar said.

"We said we will incur the costs, let's get this dog rescued."

He said Yorkshire Water provided specialist camera equipment to determine how far the dog had travelled up the culvert.

"We came to the conclusion the dog was about 26m down," he said.

"We paced it out and ended up digging into the culvert and finding the dog."

Martha was found using a thermal imaging camera

Mr Mazhar said: "We got there at 3pm Saturday afternoon and we finished at about 9am Sunday morning. I think the owners had been there all weekend, they were so relieved."

Writing on Facebook, Mrs O'Reilly Millicent said: "We cannot find the words to express how grateful, thankful and humbled we are by each and every one of you for the help you so readily gave and the determination you all showed, even when hope was fading, you didn't give up on Martha, we will be forever grateful to you all."

The RSPCA were also in attendance during the rescue operation.

The rescue mission took 18 hours to complete