Boy in 'lotus position' rescued from washing machine

Firefighters have freed a five-year-old boy who became trapped in a washing machine. The child climbed into the machine and got stuck "in a lotus position" while playing in his home in West Croydon, south London, on Wednesday afternoon. They found him with his legs firmly wedged within the machine and his torso sticking out, held up by his mum.

A firefighter from the station's green watch said: "Initially we thought he was trapped in the machinery but he wasn't. He had climbed inside and locked his legs inside, couldn't get them out and was getting really agitated and worried. Obviously the harder he tried, the more he locked his legs. He was in a sort of sitting lotus position, but inside the machine."



He added: "You have to be counter-intuitive about these things, so we pushed him back in, turned his legs that one of them was straight and he came neatly out without any pain." Paramedics from London Ambulance Service checked over the boy but found no injuries. The firefighter said the crew had feared the worst.

He said: "I think it was panic that trapped him in. He was quite distressed by it, a bit in shock. We always rush to incidents, but obviously with children it is a bit heart-wrenching. The worst always slips into your mind - you think he's trapped in the machinery or the door is locked and his trapped him. Thank God it was neither of those."