Firefighters rescue horse dangerously stuck in Somerset sink hole

Firefighters and a specialist rescue team had to be called into rescue a horse after it fell into a sink hole in Somerset.

The poor creature was stuck fast after falling into the 10ft deep and 20ft wide hole, which opened up after recent heavy rain in Shepton Mallet, Somerset.

In his desperate bid to escape, Thomas only made his situation worse as the surface water turned into a mud pit.

Vet Kathryn Penn told the Daily Mail: "I've seen horses trapped in ditches before but never in a sink hole.

"There was a line of them that had opened up and Thomas got trapped after falling in. His back legs were stuck fast.

"He'd been there an hour by the time the fire service arrived. And it was another two hours before he was out. So it was some ordeal."

The Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service had to use a mechanical digger to make a slope to pull Thomas up from.

They then attached ropes to the horse and used a tractor and Land Rover to pull him out. Thomas was so exhausted, the vet decided to sedate him throughout the ordeal.

But it finished with a happy ending as Thomas was rescued unharmed from the mud pit and reunited with his very relieved owner, Cliff Foot.

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