In Polla, in the province of Salerno, a kitten became trapped underground after construction work carried out the previous day and was rescued alive by firefighters.
The animal was found in an extremely narrow space between a wall and a concrete inspection chamber. According to the local reports, an air pocket in that cavity allowed the kitten to keep breathing while it remained buried for roughly a day or more.
Firefighters from the Sala Consilina station intervened after the kitten's meows were heard coming from a manhole. Once on site, they located the animal and worked to reach it without causing further harm.
How the rescue unfolded
The rescue required the removal of concrete structures blocking access to the trapped animal. Reports state that two concrete chambers were involved and that firefighters demolished a concrete inspection chamber to open a passage.
After breaking through the concrete, rescuers continued digging by hand for more than half an hour to reach the narrow space where the kitten was stuck. The careful hand excavation was necessary because of how tight the space was between the wall and the chamber.
The kitten was then extracted alive. It was described as frightened but reportedly in good condition at the time of the recovery.
What made survival possible
Two details were decisive in this case. The first was the small air pocket that remained around the kitten in the narrow cavity. That pocket allowed the animal to breathe during the long period underground.
The second was locating the animal precisely. The meows heard from the manhole guided firefighters to the right spot, after which they were able to remove the concrete and dig by hand to the exact point where the kitten was trapped.
No further details have been reported about the kitten's owner or its condition after the immediate rescue, and the precise street-level location in Polla was not given in the available reports.
