London- Firefighters in Britain had a couple of interesting encounters on Wednesday: a naked burglar stuck in a chimney and a runaway hamster.

The burglar had to be freed from a chimney at a supermarket in Wigan near Manchester in northern England.

The 22-year-old suspect, who had lost his clothes trying to squeeze his own way out, was treated in hospital, reports said.

Firefighters in Dunbar, Scotland, armed with a vacuum cleaner, a sock and a tiny camera dipped in chocolate, meanwhile, tried desperately to locate the hamster at the home of its sitters.

Broadcaster BBC said the eight firefighters spent five futile hours searching for Fudgie in the floorboards of the home of 6-year- old Zoe Appleby and her mother, in whose care it had been left by its owners. (dpa)