A puddle which mesmerised thousands of people online has been drained by two council workers.

Up to 20,000 people at a time watched a livestream of pedestrians trying to navigate a large puddle near Jesmond Road West in Newcastle.

It spawned the hashtag #DrummondPuddleWatch, which trended for several hours on Twitter.

People went as far as using lilos and surfboards to cross the puddle, with others jumping and tip-toeing around the edge.

But the puddle is no more after two engineers from Newcastle City Council, who were inspecting for flood damage, drained it away to clear the path.

The council said the workers had been "unaware of its celebrity status".

"Two operatives from our structural engineering contractor were assigned to check the nearby subway following the heavy weather," a council spokesman said.

"As the path with the puddle is a busy route for cyclists and pedestrians, they thought they were being helpful by digging away a little bit of soil to clear the water - and were completely unaware of its celebrity status.

"Under normal circumstances we would all be very grateful to them for their initiative and helpfulness.

"Through the power of social media the puddle has provided a bit of fun for thousands of people - but with more rain forecast it was probably high time to pull the plug on its internet popularity."

The stream was set up on Periscope by a local company after employees were amused watching people attempt to navigate the puddle.