Firefighters based in Västervik , Sweden recently experienced a rescue they won’t soon forget after they responded to an accident that reminded them of mischievous Emil of Lönneberga, a popular character written by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren.

A 10-year-old boy crawled inside the drum of a washing machine. It was all play at first, until his leg got stuck inside the machine and he wasn’t able to free himself. That was when the alarm was raised.

A full-force brigade came quickly to the rescue, an operation which took around 30 minutes. How did they manage to get the boy out without causing harm? They used baby oil to free him.

‘It’s good that he wasn’t injured in any way. It was simply a bit of Emil mischief,’ said firefighter Peter Hallberg. He added that the boy was calm throughout the operation.

‘It is of course something that you will never forget.’