This is the heartwarming moment a stray kitten was rescued after getting stuck in a sewer.

Residents heard the faint meows as the hapless little baby cat called for help in Chonburi, Thailand.

They alerted the local rescue service who arrived and began searching for the animal.

They pin-pointed the noise as coming from inside a drainage sewer - but were unable to get inside. So they sent more more staff, who arrived hydraulic tools and a flatbed truck with a cherry picker.

Rescuers used the building equipment to open the sewer top - which had been cemented shut - before the truck's pneumatic arm pulled off the lid with chains attached.

Two workers then had to wear breathing equipment and wade through the filthy sewage water, where they found the shivering creature.

The kitten, which emerged covered in filth, was then adopted by the woman who first heard him calling for help.

Pim Manuson said: ''It's destiny that he was meant to be rescued. I could hear the cries and I couldn't ignore them.'' Pim has named the kitten 'Star'.

She said: ''I don't know where he came from or how he went into the drain. But he has a safe home now. We will care for him.''