Child rescued after getting stuck inside dryer

The boy claimed his sister asked him to shut her in the laudromat dryer. PHOTO/STUART MUNRO

Fire and ambulance staff were called to a laundromat in Gonville yesterday afternoon after a child became shut inside a dryer.

The 9-year-old girl climbed into the appliance while her aunt and uncle were attending to the washing.

The girl said she did not know why she got inside the machine but said her brother had shut the door.

Her brother said he shut the door because his sister asked him to.

The children's uncle called emergency services, and Whanganui Fire Service officer Bob Wills-Rawlings said hand tools were used to free her from the machine. "The St John staff checked her over and said she was fine," he said.

Mr Wills-Rawlings said it was good that the situation was easily dealt with.

"It's all in a day's work," he said.

She was the second child to to be rescued from a machine at the Alma Rd laundromat.

A 10-year-old boy was stuck in a washing machine in October last year.

He was also rescued by the fire service.