Teenagers rescued from 20ft reservoir

Two teenagers had to be rescued by firefighters after becoming stuck at the bottom of a dry reservoir in Sunderland.

An 18-year-old woman and a 17-year-old man had climbed to the bottom of the 20ft deep concrete reservoir on Leechmere Road, on Tuesday, but were then unable to get back up.

Firefighters from Sunderland Central and rope rescue specialists from South Shields and Hebburn fire stations were called to the scene at around 9.30pm.

Crews use drop er escue equipment to reach the pair and haul them back up to the top.

No one was injured, but the fire service has issued a warning for people not to take such risks.

A Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue spokeswoman said: “Last night, fire crews were called out to help an 18-year-old female and a 17-year-old male who were stuck at the bottom of a dry reservoir off Leechmere Road.

“They had climbed down to the bottom of the concrete reservoir, which is around 20ft deep, but were unable to get back up.

"Firefighters from Sunderland Central arrived at 9.35pm and were joined by rope rescue specialists from South Shields and Hebburn fire stations shortly afterwards.

“The crews used rope rescue equipment to reach the teenagers, place them in strops and haul them individually back up to the top.

“Thankfully no one was injured, but what started out as a bit of fun ended up with four fire crews engaged for over an hour at an incident that simply didn’t need to happen.”