An 11-year-old girl managed to get stuck in a top loader washing machine after falling through the lid while standing on top of it to hang up washing in the back yard of her grandparents' house in Edendale.
Spokesperson for ER24 Ross Campbell says paramedics were called to a house in the France Phase 5 Extension of Edendale to assist with the rescue by provincial services at 6.15pm.
He says the girl's lower legs had folded behind her and she'd been stuck for an hour by the time ER24 arrived. Members of the community had already helped to strip the outside of the machine and a combination of power and hand tools had to be used to crimp and cut through the barrel to free the girl.
Once free, a medical assessment was done and luckily the girl was found to have suffered no physical injuries.
Campbell says fortunately her grandparents had reacted quickly to the seriousness of the emergency and that all the services, as well as the community, had really pulled together to help the girl.
- African News Agency (ANA)
