A FAMILY’s cat caused quite a stir after getting stuck down a drain for three days... and even fire crews couldn’t rescue him.

After several failed rescue attempts, the Hall family from Rayleigh, along with the help of their neighbours, were able to rescue 11-month-old Rocky by lifting the extremely heavy lid off the drain.

The Halls began to worry after the Maine Coon hadn’t come home for his dinner on Wednesday, and after 24 hours had gone by with no sign of him, the family “thought the worst”.

But the following evening, as the family went to bed, they heard Rocky loudly meowing from outside.

Sue Hall, 43, said: “After walking the streets and calling him, we realised he was stuck in a storm drain which was connected to our driveway.

“We could hear him meowing with worry from our en-suite window when we went to bed.

“It was heartbreaking feeling so helpless and we really thought the next morning, he wouldn’t be alive.

“As a family, we felt utterly sick with worry and emotionally drained and exhausted with feeling anxious and the thought of him not surviving this awful ordeal.

“My daughters [12 and nine] were in tears as they loved their Rocky like a brother.”

Round the back of Kirbys Coaches, in Princess Road, is a wooded area with a stream and sewage pipes in - one of these is connected to the storm drain at the family’s road, which is how Rocky got in.

Sue’s husband, Danny, attempted to remove the lid with some neighbours but without success. They then called the fire service which tried their hardest but still couldn’t get to Rocky.

On Friday morning at 5.30am, the Halls called Anglian Water for help, and engineers arranged to visit at 9am.

As the family anxiously waited, their neighbours helped again and eventually removed the lid.

Sue said: “I jumped down and held him for dear life.

“Bless his heart, other than dirty feet and being very hungry, he was perfectly fine.”