The 11-year-old girl thought she found the ideal hiding spot when she slipped inside the appliance – until she got stuck. Emergency workers managed to free the child, who was trapped in the washing machine for about 90 minutes.
BY JOE KEMP / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
An 11-year-old girl was stuck in a washing machine after she tried to hide in it during a game with her relatives.
An 11-year-old Utah girl put a new spin on a game of hide-and-seek when she slipped inside a washing machine and got stuck.
The girl was playing the game inside her South Jordan home with her older sister and their cousins on Tuesday, when she thought she found the ideal hiding place and crawled into the appliance, her mother said.
KUTV
The girl crawled into the washing machine thinking it was a good hiding place during a game with her relatives.
“She loves to win,” the mother, Nicole Rhoades, told Fox 13 News. “She’s pretty competitive.”
But the simple game turned into a terrifying ordeal for the unnamed girl when she suddenly found herself stuck inside the machine, because the door only opened until it touched the attached dryer overhead.
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Emergency workers rescued the girl after her family’s attempts to free her using butter and peanut butter failed.
Rhoades said she got a panicked call from her older daughter, who said the children and their aunt were trying everything they could think of to pull the girl free.
Some of the ideas included using butter, ice and peanut butter.
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Nicole Rhoades said her daughter was stuck inside the washing machine for about 90 minutes after slipping into the appliance during a game of hide-and-seek.
“I guess all the stuff that gets gum out of your hair gets kids out of washers,” Rhoades quipped.
The frantic girl was still wedged inside the washing machine when Rhoades made it home, so the mother dialed 911.
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Firefighters used tools to cut an attached dryer above the washing machine so the girl could be rescued.
Firefighters responded within a few minutes and managed to pull the girl free — after about 90 minutes inside the machine.
She suffered only bruises, and a brief injury to her pride.
“I felt bad for her, but at the same time, I found it pretty funny,” said Rhoades, adding that her daughter is now laughing about the incident.
“Finding the sense of humor in a situation is so much better than freaking out about it or getting overworked about it,” the mother said. “She’s already learned a pretty big lesson.”
