A peaceful getaway in St. Petersburg, Florida, turned into a heroic mission for Instagram user 'kaley_gage' and friends when they discovered 16 ducklings trapped in a storm drain outside their Airbnb.

Upon hearing frantic chirps, the group tried various strategies to free the babies but were unsuccessful. The Airbnb owner called the fire department, whose tools couldn't open the grate. After an hour of brainstorming and failed attempts, the owner’s son and his friends arrived with a truck and successfully rescued the ducklings. The mother ducks had been waiting for over nine hours.

Soon after we checked into our airbnb we walked outside and saw a cute duck standing near the tall grass. As we got closer, we heard baby ducklings chirping and realized there were 16 babies stuck down in the storm drain. For an hour we brain stormed different ideas but couldn’t get to them. The airbnb owner called the fire department who came and attempted with different tools but they weren’t able to get the grate open. Our airbnb owner’s son and his friends came to the rescue with a truck and we were able to get the babies out. We found out the parent ducks stayed helplessly in that area for 9+ hours waiting to be reunited with their babies. It was the sweetest reunion