A young child suffered a terrifying plunge into a manhole while out walking with his mother in St Petersburg, Russia. Luckily, the parent jumped into action to mount a swift rescue operation and save the child.

CCTV footage of the incident shows the youngster happily tottering on a path as his mother watches, pushing a pram alongside, when the manhole cover suddenly flips out from under his feet, dropping him into the darkness below.

The horrified mother doesn’t waste a moment in leaping towards the manhole and tearing the covering completely away, throwing herself flat onto the ground to reach the child through the opening.

Child rescued after falling into manhole.The mother was able to react quickly and pull the baby out safely pic.twitter.com/mzekyJ5FKB — RT (@RT_com) October 25, 2019

Some onlookers rushed over to help, and luckily the mother was able to pull the child out safely. It’s not clear if he suffered harm in the incident, though he appears to have escaped serious injury.

The incredible footage was shared online initially as having happened in Tatarstan; after local police investigated the matter, it was determined that it had occurred in the northwestern Russian city, according to reports.

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