A massive 'fatberg' - made of oil, fat, nappies, wipes, sanitary products and condoms - has been removed from a London sewer.

It took nine weeks for Thames Water to blast and hack away at the ghastly blockage, which was longer than two football pitches.

The last stretch needed brute force and shovels to dismantle the "rock hard" fatberg and it was "gut-wrenching work", said Thames Water's Alex Saunders.

It formed under the streets of Whitechapel, east London, damaging the one-metre-wide sewer as it grew.

Eight people used high-powered jet hoses to break up the 250m fatberg before sucking it out of the sewer and into tankers.


Image: Fatberg fighters: Two workers celebrate their victory. Pic: Thames Water

"Our work is finished, and the beast finally defeated after a mammoth effort from the team," said Mr Saunders.

The message is 'Bin it - don't block it', and Thames Water is reminding people that "poo, pee and toilet paper are the only things that should ever be flushed down the toilet".

Cooking fat, oil and grease should also not be poured down the plughole.

Instead, water companies recommend using something like an old jam jar or butter tub to collect it when cooled, before emptying it into the rubbish.

In September the Museum of London said it would like to display part of the fatberg because it "would raise questions about how we live today and also inspire our visitors to consider solutions to the problems of growing metropolises".