A massive, 64-metre fatberg – longer than the Tower of Pisa is tall – has been discovered blocking a sewer in Sidmouth, Devon.
The foul mass of congealed fat, grease and wet wipes is the biggest ever found by South West Water and will take around eight weeks to remove.
The company’s director of wastewater, Andrew Roantree, said it does not represent a health risk “at present” but that “it could and would if it was allowed to continue to develop and grow”.
He added: “So our challenge over the coming weeks is to remove this beast out of the sewer, which we’re going to be doing in a fairly manual process.
“It involves people getting into the sewer with breathing apparatus on in order to help to dig this enormous lump of congealed fat out of our sewerage network.”
Fatbergs are formed when wet wipes, which do not break up in water like toilet paper, clog at a choke point in a sewer.
Over time, fat and other greasy materials congeal around them and if left, form fatbergs.
The biggest ever found in the UK was a 250 metre long beast discovered in 2017 in Whitechapel, London.
Thames Water engineers launched a three-week sewer war against the monstrosity to remove it.
They eventually prevailed.