This is the heartwarming moment a man was rescued after spending seven days trapped in a sewer.

Nearby shop owners were shocked when they saw the man's hand peak out of a gap in the concrete in Phnom Penh province, Cambodia on December 19.

He was shouting frantically for help while saying that he had been stuck underground for one week.

The man's body was stained with dried up mud under the noxious hole, but he did not appear to be hurt.

Onlookers immediately called the police officers on duty and began with the rescue operation.

However, the concrete manhole cover was too heavy for them to carry so they called the local fire service for help.

The officials arrived at the scene with a crane and tied it to the heavy cover before driving away to pull it out.

When the lid was removed, the police helped the man climb out of the hole before being checked for injuries.

They interviewed him and found he was from another province, Kampong Speu, and wandered into the Khmer capital which is 64 kilometres away.

He claimed he was with three other people when he fell into the hole and stayed underground for seven days.

However, the officers started to worry that something was wrong with the man as his information did not add up.

They didn't find anybody else under the sewers and residents reported that the man was seen appearing to be confused while walking on the road the day before he was found.

The kind officers took the man to their station until his wife arrived later that day worried about her husband.

She said her husband had not been well mentally and escaped their house until the officers contacted her.

She said: "I was worried sick thinking where he was. I went to several stations near our village but I could not find him."

The man went home with his wife after he was cleaned and given food at the police station.