This is the heartwarming moment dozens of baby chicks were rescued from a motorway storm drain after they fell from a lorry.

The little birds were found trapped inside the concrete hole after passing drivers heard their cheeping on the expressway in Samut Prakan, central Thailand on Friday (March 8) afternoon.

Highway police said that the baby chickens had been stuck since the previous night and they were dropped while being unloaded from one lorry to another.

It is believed the driver decided to leave the birds there as they could not open the drain cover.

The chicks, which were being taken to a farm, were trapped until a driver reported the incident to the rescue foundation.

When rescuers arrived, the baby chicks were seen walking back and forth inside the ditch. Officers dropped some water and food to feed the babies as they seemed to be exhausted from the heat, reaching temperatures of 34C.

Rescue volunteers used a crowbar to remove the cap but the attempt failed, so they called for the mobile crane to lift the drain cover.

When the grate was removed, three officers herded the animals along in the 100-metre-long drainage by blowing and poking them. It took more than 30 minutes to save the chicks and put them into the cage.

Officers from Poh Teck Tung foundation said that about 80 chicks caught from the drain were taken to the district animal hospital as some of them were shocked and fatigued.

He said: ‘’We tried to refresh them by giving water and splashing water in the cage because all of them were trapped in the hot concrete all morning."