PARENTS of a three-year-old Headley Down girl have praised the emergency services who freed the child's arm when it became trapped in a pipe at their private swimming pool.

Christina Gachoud was playing in the pool in her back garden in Spats Lane last Thursday with her mother Miranda, and her babysitter when her troubles began.

"She was swimming with her arm bands on when she reached out for a toy and her arm was sucked up into one of the filter points," said Mrs Gachoud.

The filter inlet, used to vacuum clean the pool, had been accidentally switched to suck rather then blow. So when Chrsitina swam near it, her arm was sucked into the pipe, right up to her elbow.

"Fortunately our gardener was here and he knew what to do."

At 2-34 pm the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service was called and fire crews from Grayshott, Bordon, Liphook and Basingstoke's special equipment unit were despatched.

With 17 firefighters and one officer on the scene, the fire and rescue service set about freeing her from the side of the pool.

Initial attempts to pull her arm from the pipe failed because her hand had swollen up, so more drastic action was needed.

Mrs Gachoud and two firefighters wrapped Christina in an insulating blanket and kept her calm while firefighters used a hammer drill - which they borrowed from Altis Tools in Lindford, a hammer and a chisel to break the concrete which surrounded the pipe.

Firefighters also used two portable pumps to lower the water level by approximately 1.5 metres following advice from the ambulance service on the girl's condition.

When Christina's arm was eventually freed, still in the piping, almost two hours later, she was taken to the Royal Surrey Hospital in Guildford. Her father Mark met her there but there was still more drama to come.

Medical staff wondered how best to remove the pipe without scaring the little girl any more.

"They decided to call in Surrey fire brigade to cut the pipe from her arm but first of all she had to be put under a general anaesthetic."

She was freed after a one-hour operation and was released from hospital the following evening with a small hairline fracture on her finger and bruising. She was due back at the hospital this week for a check up.

Mrs Gachoud told The Herald that while Christina remembers that something happened to her, she has managed to get through her ordeal with no lasting effects.

Mr and Mrs Gachoud intend to write to the firefighters thanking them for their efforts.