Two newborn kittens just an hour old were rescued by firefighters after getting stuck in a utility pipe in a kitchen cupboard at a house in north-east Essex.

East Anglian Daily Times: Two newborn kittens were rescued today after getting stuck in a utility pipe. Pic: Essex County Fire and Rescue Service.Two newborn kittens were rescued today after getting stuck in a utility pipe. Pic: Essex County Fire and Rescue Service. (Image: Archant)

The drama unfolded in Braintree yesterday morning when the kitten’s mother gave birth to a litter of four kittens in a kitchen cupboard.

Darren Holiday, assistant divisional officer at Essex County Fire and Rescue Service, said: “Under the cupboard was the inlet pipe for the water main and that was in a larger utility pipe which had not been blanked off.

“The kittens had only just been born when two of them fell into the pipe.

“We had to break away some of the floor and then make the hole wider to be able to reach down and get them out. They seemed a little bit cold, but their mother started to look after them straight away so it looks like they will be all right.”

The kittens were later taken to a nearby veterinary clinic for a check-up.

Firefighters were called to the property in St Johns Road at 10.45am. The kittens had been rescued by 12.15pm.