Created: 02/15/2010 9:01 PM KSTC45.com | Print Story By: Jessica Miles and Becky Nahm

Grasston teen rescued after leg gets stuck in pipe

Rescue crews had to cut through a four feet of frozen ground and a metal pipe to free a teenager in Mora.

AnneMarie Burton, 17, of Grasston, was out Sunday morning doing community service. She was shoveling snow away from fire hydrants when she felt her leg sink down beneath her.

She thought she was stuck in deep snow, but then realized she couldn't get up. Her leg was stuck in an uncovered, cast-iron pipe, ten inches in diameter.

Burton said the people with her tried to help.

She said, "They tried pulling me back and forward, left and right, and it just kept getting tighter."

Emergency crews arrived, measured her free leg and determined they needed to cut through four feet of ground to sever the pipe.

Burton said, "They were jack hammering the bottom of the pipe and using a chisel and I could feel the pipe smashing into my leg."

Two hours after she became trapped, crews sawed through the pipe. She was free, but still had the pipe stuck on her leg.

Crews took her to a hospital where medical personnel used vegetable oil to slide off the pipe.

Burton suffered a sprained foot and will be on crutches for a few weeks.

The pipe has been covered with gravel.

Investigators think the pipe is an old water or gas line. It is located on public property.

Why it was not capped is not clear.