Man saved after three days in a sewer is revived by a cigarette
A MAN who was trapped in a sewer for three days was rescued when his desperate cries for help were heard above ground.
The 48-year-old, who has not been identified, is thought to have crawled for miles through filthy pipes trying to find a way out.
He was eventually hauled to safety through a manhole in a residential street in Romford, to the astonishment of witnesses.
He declined to speak to anyone about his ordeal until someone gave him a cigarette, it was claimed.
Sam Palmer, a manager at Big White Cube Vehicle Hire, heard the victim’s pleas for help outside her office.
“We could hear a faint cry for help and we began searching,” she said. “He just kept shouting ‘help’ over and over again but he didn’t say that he was in a drain.”
The Metropolitan Police were called and officers freed the man by removing the manhole cover with crowbars.
Witnesses said he appeared “bewildered and confused”.
A London Ambulance Service spokesman said the man was treated for exposure to cold and water and injuries to his feet. He is understood to have broken both heels, which are now in plaster.
Miss Palmer added: “When he was pulled out, the first thing he did was ask for a cigarette. He looked very dishevelled but at that moment, the crowd gave a sigh of relief as we knew he was okay. Before that we had all been really worried.
“It was unbelievable, certainly something I will never experience again in my life.”
Stephanie Noe, 29, a witness, said: “It was so strange. The man was really dirty and I don’t think he was wearing any shoes. He looked a bit bewildered and confused.
“He was saying that he’d been down there for a couple of days. I don’t think he knew where he was.”
Thames Water launched an investigation but said engineers could not find any broken manholes that he could have fallen through.
The company said it believed the man had entered via an exit of the surface water system on a new housing estate about a mile away from where he was rescued. The horizontal pipe is understood to be in a fenced off area and “quite a height” from the ground, suggesting he may have climbed into it.
The system carries rainwater from roads out to the River Rom so the explorer had not come into contact with lavatory waste during his journey.