Men rescued from 50-foot manhole

• Tweet

OLDHAM, England, July 16 (UPI) -- Emergency responders in Britain said they rescued two men who climbed into a manhole and were unable to get back out on their own.

Firefighters and a mountain rescue team in Oldham, England, said the two men, who are in their 20s, used a thin piece of garden twine to climb 50 feet down in the manhole, soon discovered they were trapped and called the emergency 999 number, the Manchester Daily News reported Monday.

"It was a crazy thing to do. They could have killed themselves," said Dave Bowler of Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service. "They had gone down a length of pressure hose they had tied to a scaffolding pole with a piece of blue garden twine. The hole was made of concrete and would have been very unforgiving if they had fallen. The reason why they went down there was a mystery to everyone involved in the rescue."

Mick Nield, leader of the mountain rescue team, said alcohol was apparently a factor in the men's actions.

"I think they had been on the beers and decided it was a good idea to monkey swing down there. It took us about an hour to get them out. One of the men had fallen about 10 feet but neither of them was hurt seriously," he said.