A family's pet dogs have been rescued after spending six weeks trapped in a remote sewage pit.

The two yellow labradors were eventually saved by boys who came to their rescue after hearing the dogs barking as they played in a nearby field.

The labradors went missing on May 5 when they became trapped in a 6ft deep, steep-sided clinker bed, which takes overflow from domestic septic tanks.

Last night the dogs, Holly, seven, and Chloe, three, were recovering from their ordeal at home with relieved owner Edwina Deighton.

They had both lost weight but the family's vet was astounded the dogs had survived relatively unscathed from their ordeal.

Mrs Deighton, 53, of Copyhold Lane, Cuckfield, said: "We had raised both dogs from pups and they were very much part of the family.

"I couldn't accept they had just disappeared. They had gone missing for short spells twice before but had returned by themselves. So, after a couple of days I was becoming increasingly concerned."

Mrs Deighton, her son Simon, 23, and his girlfriend Joanna spent days combing the countryside near their home.

Mrs Deighton, whose husband Keith, a building company director, spends most of his working week abroad on business, said: "We had the whole village concerned, with loads of offers of help. So many scenarios played through my mind.

"I couldn't believe both dogs had been injured or killed in an accident.

"They had collars with our phone number and I was sure we would have heard. The only logical explanation was they had been stolen."

Then, just as the family was starting to lose hope, the dogs were found exhausted and hungry by 12-year-old classmates Ethan Haxon and Tim Carrington.

The boys from Warden Park Comprehensive in Cuckfield had been playing in fields outside the village on Saturday afternoon when they heard barking coming from a piece of woodland two miles from the Deightons' house.

Ethan said: "We stumbled across the drain and when I looked into it, I saw the dogs.

"They were very dirty and thin but otherwise seemed okay. They were very excited and seemed to know we would get them out."

The boys found a discarded piece of boarding to form a ramp and led the dogs to safety.