Cat's three day shipping container ordeal

A cat trapped in a shipping container was finally rescued after his brother helped raise the alarm.

Aslan went missing from his home in Mancetter, Warwickshire, on Wednesday.

His owners had no idea where he was but noticed his brother, Arlo, kept going to sit by a shipping container at a nearby factory site.

The fire service freed him on Saturday night, but had to clear out piles of furniture before he could be found, right at the back of the 40ft unit.

Crews said it had been like looking for "a needle in a haystack".

Paul Turner, watch commander at Atherstone fire station, they had got a call to a cat stuck in a container and had no idea what they were going to find.

The owners had noticed Arlo going to the container door and then they could hear their cat, he said.

"So we knew which container to go to and he cried as we got there."

Fire crews spent "a reasonable amount of time" trying to coax Aslan out but in the end had to remove a stack of furniture to get to him.

Arlo kept an eye on proceedings throughout and came up two or three times while the work was going on, he said.

Aslan was none the worse for his ordeal and was happy to have some food when he was freed.

It is not known how Aslan got into the container, but it is thought he must have snuck in when the door was open.

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