Firefighters rescue trapped boys

Two boys trapped up to their waists in mud were freed after calling rescuers for help on a mobile phone.

The boys, who are aged 12 and 13, were playing in a ditch on wasteland at Hurst Lane in Doncaster when they got into difficulties.

One of them called for help on his mobile phone and it took firefighters 15 minutes to free them.

One boy suffered mild hypothermia and the other was unharmed by the ordeal, which happened on Saturday.

In charge of the rescue operation was Watch Manager Martin Whieldon, who said it took a while to safely reach the boys, who were in a fairly isolated spot.

Once there, he said his colleagues firefighters Chris Marsh and John Wordsworth were able to gently lift the boys out of their predicament.

"It was not a difficult operation," he told BBC News.

But he added: "If there had been just one lad and he had not got a mobile phone, the consequences could have been very different."