By . Hugo Gye . Police were forced to free a dog from a manhole cover after it got mysteriously stuck in a sewer with just its head poking out. The animal was found by a group of teenagers who heard barking as they walked past a closed school playground in Lisbon. They went to help the distressed pet - but could only see the dog's head coming up through the ground. Stuck: A dog had to be freed from a manhole cover after getting stuck in a sewer in Lisbon . One of the five teenagers, 19-year-old Aura Preciado, said: 'It was coming from the manhole over a sewer but there wasn't any other way that we could see to get into the sewer. 'At first we couldn't see where the dog was but then we just saw this head on the pavement looking at us and realised that the rest of the dog was underground. 'It was impossible to pull it out through the tiny hole so we called the local animal rescue service who turned up - and who in turn alerted the fire service.' Rescue: An animal rescue worker using a hammer to get the dog out of its unfortunate plight . Success: The dog was eventually freed and returned to its worried owner . Animal rescue spokesman Ana Sousa, 39, said: 'We don't know how it got down there, but the rescue operation took an hour and involved four firemen because we had to carefully widen the hole where the dog was caught in order to free it. 'One thing is for sure, the dog could not have got there on its own. The entrance was too narrow.' Once the pet had been freed, rescuers used a tag on the dog's collar to locate its owner, who said he was delighted to have the animal back. He said he had been walking the dog when it suddenly vanished, and he had no idea where it had gone.
Pet was found by a group of teenagers in a school playground in Lisbon .
Animal rescue managed to extract it and return it to its owner .
By . Hugo Gye . Police were forced to free a dog from a manhole cover after it got mysteriously stuck in a sewer with just its head poking out. The animal was found by a group of teenagers who heard barking as they walked past a closed school playground in Lisbon. They went to help the distressed pet - but could only see the dog's head coming up through the ground. Stuck: A dog had to be freed from a manhole cover after getting stuck in a sewer in Lisbon . One of the five teenagers, 19-year-old Aura Preciado, said: 'It was coming from the manhole over a sewer but there wasn't any other way that we could see to get into the sewer. 'At first we couldn't see where the dog was but then we just saw this head on the pavement looking at us and realised that the rest of the dog was underground. 'It was impossible to pull it out through the tiny hole so we called the local animal rescue service who turned up - and who in turn alerted the fire service.' Rescue: An animal rescue worker using a hammer to get the dog out of its unfortunate plight . Success: The dog was eventually freed and returned to its worried owner . Animal rescue spokesman Ana Sousa, 39, said: 'We don't know how it got down there, but the rescue operation took an hour and involved four firemen because we had to carefully widen the hole where the dog was caught in order to free it. 'One thing is for sure, the dog could not have got there on its own. The entrance was too narrow.' Once the pet had been freed, rescuers used a tag on the dog's collar to locate its owner, who said he was delighted to have the animal back. He said he had been walking the dog when it suddenly vanished, and he had no idea where it had gone.
The animal was found by a group of teenagers who playground in Lisbon. They went to help the and returned to its worried owner . Animal rescue