Watch: Draperstown man saves digger from sinking into oblivion

Huge crowds watch the near loss and subsequent recovery of the Hitachi Digger close to Goles Forest, between Draperstown and Plumbridge.

The bizarre episode began when a contractor was clearing drains on bogland just east of the forest, on the Tyrone/Derry border, at the eastern end of the Glenelly Valley.

To his horror Cookstown Contractor Wesley Hamilton, could only struggle in vain as his machine, sank deeper and deeper into the quagmire.

The battle to save the digger lasted for several days last week, and it was the expertise of the legendary Joe Rodgers, from Draperstown, who secured its unlikely recovery.