After receiving a plea for help, firefighters made a hole for the cat to escape last week.

"We cut and pried open several slabs, but we didn't see the cat," Ji Minghao from the city's fire department told Zhanjiang Evening News.

"Some people said the cat may be afraid to come out after being out of touch with the outside world for so long."

The cat has been described as yellowish, small and thin.

"We would say 'meow' and the cat would come to the gap and wait for food. We tried to open up the slab but couldn't without the proper tools," Zhanjiang Evening News quoted a resident as saying.

Ji said he had not encountered an animal trapped for so long before.