The moment a mum jumped into a drain to rescue her 18-month-old son after he fell through a manhole cover has been captured on CCTV.

The terrifying footage shows Amy Blyth, 23, walking with her son Theo in Ashford, Kent on Sunday morning when the toddler goes to innocently investigate a drain cover.

Seconds later Theo disappears from view as he plummets through the cover which then closes on top of him.

Horrified mum-of-one Amy screamed as she saw her son vanish before taking the cover off and jumping into the drain after him.

Luckily, the personal trainer was able to grab hold of Theo and lift him out but he was covered in human sewage.

Describing the ‘horror film’ moment, Amy said: ‘My first thought was “oh my God, he’s dead”.

‘I yanked the drain lid out, and I just saw him down there, screaming my name. There was sewage up to his knees.

‘I jumped down the drain, but it’s not big enough for me to bend over to grab him. I had to sort of arch my body to grab him and pull him up.

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‘I don’t know how I did it. My body went in ways I’ve never bent before, just to get him out of that drain.’

Amy stood on ledges at the side of the sewer – that appears to be at least 5ft deep – to reach down to her son who had fallen to the very bottom.

She added: ‘It was so deep you couldn’t see my head from the ground, and I wasn’t even on the floor.

‘Just as I pulled him up I think someone flushed a chain because we were soaked – with I think, possibly, wee. Our clothes are absolutely disgusting.’

Amy emerged from the drain ‘screaming for help’, while Theo was in an apparent state of shock, and ‘wasn’t really making a noise’.

Amy rushed Theo to Ashford’s William Harvey Hospital, where medics diagnosed him with a mild concussion, but x-rays revealed he miraculously got away without a broken bone.

Amy said: ‘It could have ended up so much worse. If he’d gone down head first, I don’t even know if he would be here.

‘It makes me feel sick to think of it. It’s an absolute nightmare – I’m petrified of drains now. I still feel really shaken from it. I just can’t really get over it.

‘He literally went straight to the bottom, and I thought I was going to lose him. It was actually like a horror film.’

Following the incident, Amy has complained to Southern Water and said she ‘needs answers’ as to how the accident happened.

‘My little boy shouldn’t have fallen through a drain,’ Amy said.

‘It’s not acceptable. We need some answers to why it wasn’t fixed.’

It is understood Southern Water is working to establish who is responsible for the drain and manhole.

Around four investigators were seen in the area on Monday looking into the cause of the accident.

The utility company confirmed it is investigating and taking the matter ‘very seriously’.

A spokesperson for Southern Water said: ‘We are aware of a situation involving a child and an open manhole.

‘This is clearly an upsetting situation for those involved and our team is on-site. A dedicated customer liaison officer has been assigned to support the family.

‘We are taking this matter very seriously and our first priority was to make the area safe.

‘Next steps are to understand exactly what happened.’

Southern Water has been contacted for an update into its investigation.

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