Dish soap saves 11-year-old girl trapped in rock crevice for over 4 hours

An 11-year-old girl on a school field trip was trapped in a narrow rock crevice for more than four hours before rescuers freed her using an unlikely tool: dish soap. She was pulled to safety without serious injury.

According to The Independent on Wednesday (local time), Shannon Facey, 11, was on a school field trip at Hound Tor in Dartmoor National Park in Devon, England, on June 23 when she slipped while moving across rocky terrain and her leg became deeply wedged between two granite boulders.

Teachers and chaperones on the scene attempted to free her first, but the gap was too narrow. They ultimately called for help from emergency services. Dartmoor Search and Rescue, Devon Cave Rescue and fire department teams all responded.

Rescuers used specialist equipment to try to shift the girl's body bit by bit, but her leg remained firmly stuck and the operation made little headway. The teams eventually decided to use Fairy — a widely used British dish soap — as a lubricant to reduce friction between the rock and her leg.

Once the soap was applied, Shannon's leg began to move gradually, and after roughly four hours she was freed safely.

After the rescue, team members said the real hero of the operation was the dish soap.

Despite being pinned in place for hours, Shannon remained calm throughout the ordeal. Follow-up medical checks found no serious injuries, and she was well enough to walk away from the scene on her own.