This is the moment rescue workers finally free a young man from a narrow sewer pipe after a seven-hour ordeal.

Evgeny Titov – from Zhigulyovsk, Samara Oblast, Russia – had climbed into the 30-centimetre-wide drainage pipe in a car park at Pulkovo Airport in Saint Petersburg.

He had crawled for 12 metres before getting stuck and calling for help.

Rescue workers spent seven hours cutting the tarmac, digging a six-metre-deep hole, and disassembling the sewer pipe to free the shirtless 21-year-old.

He was taken to the intensive care ward of a local hospital to be treated for hypothermia and then later transferred to another department.

Evgeny had travelled to Saint Petersburg to visit a friend but claims he does not remember why he got into the pipe.

Law enforcement agencies believe he was intoxicated at the time, but Evgeny denies this.

Authorities had considered him a missing person after he left his home for nearby Tolyatti by car and then left for Saint Petersburg by train several days ago.

Local media reported that he may be financially liable for the damage his actions caused.