A teenage boy has been rescued after being trapped up to his neck by grain in a silo at a farm in East Sussex.

An oxygen mask was placed over the boy's face as firefighters painstakingly spent two hours cutting away part of the silo wall to release some of the grain.

The Health and Safety Executive is to investigate how the 13-year-old sank into the silo at the farm in Robertsbridge, Hastings.

As fast as rescuers could dig away at the linseed trapping William it flowed back threatening to smother him.

Rescuers tie a harness around William to stop him being sucked into the grain

Fire crews feared opening a valve in the bottom of the silo would create a plug hole effect and drag him to his death so they decided to cut a hole in the wall.

William was placed in a harness to prevent him slipping further into the silo as they worked.

After the grain level had been reduced the teenager and he was pulled free.

Divsional officer Craig Thompson, of East Sussex Fire Brigade, said: "He had trouble breathing and his chest was constricted."

Firefighters cut away the silo wall to get at William

It is believed William was cleaning a filter on the silo when he became stuck.

Arthur Dunmore, from East Sussex Ambulance Service, said: " The silo was like quicksand sucking him down and he was slowly sinking.

"Firefighters lowered a line down to the boy and they got a line and a harness around him. We lowered an air line down to him to keep him breathing."

He was taken to the Conquest Hospital, Hastings, for a check-up before returning home.

Police said the youngster had not been hurt in the incident on Friday, which was being treated as an industrial accident.
 

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