Museum stakes claim as battle begins to clear giant 'fatberg' in London sewer

LONDON - Sewage workers have found a 130-tonne ball of congealed fat - dubbed a "monster fatberg" - clogging a Victorian-era sewer in London, utility company Thames Water said Tuesday.

Engineers expect it will take up to three weeks to remove the rock-solid mass of festering food fat mixed with diapers and sanitary wipes found in drains under a major road in Whitechapel, east London.

"This fatberg is up there with the biggest we've ever seen. It's a total monster and taking a lot of manpower and machinery to remove as it's set hard," Matt Rimmer, Thames Water's head of waste, said in a statement.