Woman freed after being stuck in septic tank for two hours

A woman has been freed after getting her leg stuck in a septic tank for nearly two hours this afternoon.

A Fire Service spokesman said emergency services were called to a property on Kauri Rd in Whenuapai, north of Auckland, about 3.10pm after the woman had apparently fallen into the tank. The woman had been trapped for about 20 minutes by the time they arrived.

The woman was walking in her back garden when the ground level lid of the tank gave way underneath her on her Whenuapai property, assistant area commander Chris Delfos said.

"She had one leg out and one leg in."

The septic tank's lid had collapsed into the cavity below, pinning the woman's ankle.

Five fire trucks and about 20 crew were sent to the property and fire fighters spent about an hour and a half working to free the woman.

"Because of the confined space the crews dig next to the tank and tunnelled in," Delfos said.

They managed to free her ankle, which was luckily protected by her gumboot.

Delfos said because of the gumboot the skin on her leg had not broken and emergency services were not worried about infection.

Her ankle did not appear to be broken. The woman was taken out on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance and taken to hospital.

All fire crew were getting hosed down with disinfectant shortly before 5pm before leaving the scene.