Two kittens were rescued after getting stuck in a drainpipe at a police station.

Officers heard the soaked moggies crying after a rainstorm in Buriram, northeast Thailand, on October 26.

The night-duty cops searched for them but assumed they were living in the ceiling and left them until morning.

However, colleagues could still hear the cats crying the next day and traced them to the pipe

The station's chief, Police Major General Ratthaphon Naowarat, instructed all of the officers on duty to rescue the hapless cats.

Using a sharp knife, the officers cut the metal pipe and pulled a small white kitten out of the gap.

The officers further checked the hole and found a second one, this time a black kitten. The rescue operation lasted for only ten minutes.

The cats appeared tired, wet and starving so they gave them some water and food at the corner of the station where they also rested.

The police chief said the tiny kittens may have wandered across the roof and fell inside the drain pipe.

He said: "I'm glad we found and rescued the poor cats o they would have drowned inside there eventually.''

A police officer from the station, Corporal Ailada Suwanmook, later adopted the two cats and took them home.