Get your news delivered straight to you by 7am - sign up to our new Morning Mail newsletter for FREESee more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy ED HOLT Published: 01:33 BST, 16 July 2026 | Updated: 01:34 BST, 16 July 2026
An 11-year-old girl who spent four hours wedged between rocks at a beauty spot was rescued by a bottle of Fairy liquid.Shannon Facey was on a school trip to Dartmoor, in Devon, when she slipped and her leg became wedged between huge boulders on Hound Tor. Emergency services and Dartmoor Search and Rescue teams rushed to the scene on June 23 - one of the hottest days of the year so far where temperatures reached a scorching 33 degrees in the surrounding area.Shannon's rescuers worked for hours to free her from the rocks - including using specialist equipment for widening gaps - but they eventually exhausted all their options.That was until Devon Cave Rescue Organisation (DCRO) arrived at the scene with a bottle of 'life-saving' Fairy Washing Up Liquid.After they poured it all over her legs and the surrounding rocks and the rescuers were finally able to pull her out.Shannon's mother, Jessica Facey, 38, said: 'It was crazy - after how many hours they tried to free her, and then it was just a bit of Fairy that came to the rescue!'Shannon told me the team completely covered all her leggings, her leg and all the rocks that trapped her leg and somehow managed to slip her out.' Shannon Facey and her mother Jessica. Shannon was on a school trip to Dartmoor, in Devon, when she slipped and her leg became wedged between huge boulders at Hound Tor Shannon spent hours trapped between two rocks before Devon Cave Rescue Organisation (DCRO) arrived at the scene with a bottle of Fairy Washing Up Liquid. After they poured it all over her legs the rescuers were finally able to pull her outBefore the washing up liquid came to the rescue, Ms Facey said that people were 'under and above [Shannon] trying to pull her out.'But half a bottle of Fairy acted as the slippery lubricant they needed.'The mother-of-four, from Barnstaple, received a phone call where she was informed her daughter had slipped and was stuck in a crevice.She said: 'I was terrified. In my head I was just thinking, "oh my god" - there is no way I was going to be able to fit in a cave to try and free her.'It was just blind panic.'Praising her daughter, Ms Facey said she was proud of how brave her daughter had been.She continued: 'The air ambulance said she listened to every direction and despite being down there for over four hours she remained upbeat and did so well.'She's so resilient - I wouldn't have been like that.'When the 38-year-old finally arrived, she said she was greeted by her giggling daughter - who was carrying the bottle of Fairy liquid that had been signed by the rescue teams. Rescuers working to try and free Shannon.They worked for hours to free her from the rocks - including using specialist equipment for widening gaps - but they eventually exhausted all their options She said: 'Shannon told me she didn't think she was going to get out - so she had those worries in her head but remained calm anyway.'I didn't know if she was nervously giggling or whether it was the adrenaline and shock that would then calm down and hit her.'Luckily she didn't have to go to hospital, and when I asked her if she wanted to go home with me she said she wanted to stay on the school trip for the next four days!'I mean the day after the accident she was scrambling down waterfalls. I could not believe it, she really does amaze me.'
