A terrified teenager had to be pulled to safety this week after getting stuck in waist-deep mud around a pool.
Antonia Weaver, 16, was rescued by firefighters after sinking into the thick ooze at a disused canal.
A team of ten firefighters, led by her uncle Mark Weaver, was called to help the frightened teenager, who became trapped while collecting stones near Hinkshay pools, Little Dawley.
It took the team 30 minutes to rescue Miss Weaver, who was suffering from hypothermia.
Short cut
Mr Weaver, a sub-officer for Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “She was upset and kept thinking she would sink a bit more.
“We had to dig her out by hand due to the location. We couldn’t get any vehicles in.
“She had been collecting stones and had taken a short cut to get to the pools to wash them when she sank to her waist. Over time the old canal had filled with silt, mud and old trees.”
Mr Weaver said his niece had suffered a few grazes and insect bites, but had otherwise recovered.
The hour-long ordeal - on Mr Weaver’s 42nd birthday - began after Antonia, of Johnston Road, Dawley, went for a walk over to Dawley Mount with her 17-year-old brother Kieron.
Antonia said she collected some coloured rocks and so headed off to nearby Hinkshay pools to wash them.
She said: “I saw a wooden beam crossing a stretch of mud but the mud looked dry and safe so I walked over it.
“I slipped and went ankle-deep into the mud.”
She said the more she struggled, the deeper she sank and so Kieron left to get help.
The teenager began to panic and screamed for help and fortunately her cries were heard by a woman who went to her rescue and then called in her husband to help.
They failed to drag her clear and so called in firefighters, whose team included by co-incidence her uncle.
Antonia said later: “I was really glad to see anyone, let alone Uncle Mark. It was comforting having a member of the family there.
“I’m just glad to be alive because at one point I was so cold my eyes started drooping and I thought I was going to die.”
Mr Weaver said he didn’t know who was trapped until he arrived on the scene.
