FRANTIC Iraqi's were last night battling a race against time after discovering up to 30 people cemented in to an underground vault by Saddam Hussein.

The find, made a day ago in Amara, eastern Iraq, has seen hundreds of local men trying desperately to reach those trapped, thought to be the Iraqi leader's prisoner of conscience.

Locals say the group, who had been held captive by Saddam for opposing his regime, could be heard screaming for help as they tried to reach them.

Using only pick axes and sledgehammers the team of men were working round the clock to try to free those trapped.

At night, they operated by candlelight as their electricity had been taken out by an American bomb two weeks ago.

One of the rescuers, Mohammed Tareq, said the prisoners had been forced into the underground bunker in shackles before workers filled in the entrance with cement.

The 37-year-old said: "No one knows what the conditions down there are like but we know they must be suffering. This just goes to show what evil Saddam is capable of."

Several holes have already been dug inside the former Government building, but so far none has showed any signs of the secret vault.

Every ten minutes the men call a halt and listen, hoping to hear the faint murmurs of those entombed.

They have already uncovered a number of cellars, many of which are flooded, but all have been empty.

The town of Amara, on the west side of the river Tigris 200 miles south of Baghdad, has long been known to have a strong anti-Saddam movement. It is thought the Iraqi leader's followers purposely chose the town in a defiant gesture to its people.