A hole lot of bother: Schoolgirl, 16, gets stuck in drain trying to retrieve her iPhone

This schoolgirl found herself in a ‘hole’ lot of trouble - after getting stuck in a drain while retrieving her phone.

Ella Birchenough, 16, got herself wedged in a storm drain after her iPhone slipped out of her pocket in Dover, Kent.

When the device fell out of sight, she had lifted the heavy drain cover off and lowered herself into the roadside drain feet-first.

['I cant mooo-ve!' Cow rescued after getting head stuck in TREE]
[Call Special Branch! Police baffled as hapless driver leaves truck 10ft up a tree]

But within seconds the teen found herself stuck fast and unable to pull herself out of the tight spot.

She called to a passerby and asked her to alert her mother Joanne at their home nearby.

Joanne, 36, dashed to the scene and then dialled 999 and three firefighters turned up to gently pull the red-faced schoolgirl free.

Ella, a GCSE student at Astol College, said: 'I was talking to somebody and I went to put my phone in my pocket and it fell down the drain.

'I thought to myself 'I'm not leaving this' and I jumped down to get it.

'I wasn't really even stuck, I just need somebody to help lift me out but my mum got all panicky.

'When they pulled me out I ran straight home and jumped in the bath. I think it was just water but I wasn't taking any chances.

'I was just laughing the whole time, I have seen the funny side of it. You just have to laugh along with it.

Taxi operative Joanne, who also has an eight-year-old son Ben, said: 'I was really worried. My face went white and I was in a panic.

'I ran out the house, turned the corner - but as soon as I saw her I burst out laughing.

'I thought 'we are never going to get her out of there' so I called the fire service who got there pretty quickly.

[Rush hour trains cancelled after conductors stuck in taxi were banned from walking half a mile to station over 'heath and safety' fears]
[VIDEO: Rambler couple stuck for one HOUR on stile after being confronted by angry bulls]

'She is never going to live this down now. We will be bringing it out at her 18th birthday and her wedding.

Witness Mike Snelling, 71, said a crowd quickly gathered around Ella as she struggled to free herself.

He said: 'There was a bit of a crowd around her.

'She had got stuck trying to get her phone but she was laughing and joking.'

A Kent Fire and Rescue spokesman said: 'A teenage girl was released by firefighters from a storm drain where she had become stuck.

'Crews then made the scene safe. The girl was uninjured.'

Ella may have escaped the drain drama at 7pm on Wednesday unhurt - but her rescue attempt was in vain as her phone was recovered broken.