BRITISH troops were racing against time last night to free prisoners believed to have been buried alive by Saddam Hussein’s fleeing henchmen.

Army engineers were called in after British officers heard scratching beneath a wrecked statue of Saddam in al-Faw. Local people said they had seen two coachloads of prisoners being sealed into a secret chamber under the site.

Hundreds of Iraqis kept a vigil yesterday as engineers with pneumatic drills and a bulldozer worked to break through a yard of concrete believed to have been poured into a stairwell leading to the dungeon.

Several British troops said they had heard a response after they stopped digging, called for quiet and knocked on the ground.

The sound of a series of scratching noises has been distinct at least twice since work started on Monday afternoon.

Lieutenant-Colonel Simon Wolsey, of 29 Commando Royal Artillery, which called in the digging teams, said: “We stopped work and knocked on the floor after ordering complete silence and I definitely heard something.

“It sounded like someone scratching at the concrete from below. A medic who was with us used his stethoscope and confirmed he heard the noise.

“Locals are adamant that they saw coachloads of prisoners, possibly Kuwaitis from the last war, being brought here before the coalition forces arrived.

“We have an obligation to help if there is even the slightest chance of someone being alive down there.”

Men from 59 Commando Engineers were working in shifts inside the statue’s 30ft-high hollow plinth. Others, backed by the bulldozer, were trying to burrow in from outside.

The steel figure of Saddam, which vanished during fighting, used to dominate a huge marble, pillared amphitheatre in al-Faw town which was dedicated to the tyrant.

British troops stepped in to help after finding local people on the site tearing at the rubble with their bare hands.

Staff Sergeant George Lamplough, 35, who was among the digger teams, said: “I’ve just worked 12 hours solid trying to get through the concrete, and it’s tough going.

“We can’t be sure we’ll find anything, but we’ve shown the locals that we believe what they’ve told us and that we’re willing to help. Noises have been heard when we’ve stopped to listen, by some of us as well as the locals. So we’ll press on as long as necessary.”

Abu Alal, 47, a shopkeeper and the town’s self-appointed mayor, said yesterday: “We are certain that people are trapped underground and are very grateful to the British for their help. “It would be a wonderful miracle if someone came out of there alive after all this time.”

The lavish amphitheatre was opened by Saddam 13 years ago and was once adorned with fountains clad in gleaming marble.

But Mr Alal said he recalled teams of foreign engineers arriving on the site and is convinced that a secret bunker complex was installed.

He pointed out masses of heavy-duty cables leading underground and said that two of the classical-style pillars were hollow air shafts. A heavy digging tool was later fitted to a bulldozer to aid the army teams last night.

This was a pooled report for British media.

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