BANGKOK, Thailand — A 19-month-old girl fell into a dry artesian well shaft at a cassava farm in northern Thailand 18 hours before she was saved. It took rescuers all night to get her out.
Rescuers clapped and cheered as the toddler, the daughter of Myanmar migrant workers, was pulled from the 15-meter (49-foot)-deep well shaft and placed on a stretcher that carried her to an ambulance waiting nearby.
“You guys did an excellent job. “We did it!” exclaimed one rescuer as his colleagues wept and hugged each other in Tak province’s Phop Phra district.
While her parents were working at the plantation, the child fell into the hole late Monday afternoon.
Rescuers In Thailand Were On The Scene Quickly
The deep pit, dug by the landowner to be an artesian well, was left uncovered after it failed to reach groundwater, according to Phop Phra district chief Sanya Phetset on Tuesday.
According to local media, the first rescuers on the scene shouted down the hole and heard the child cry back. After lowering a camera into the hole to assess the situation, a tube was snaked to provide oxygen.
Using backhoes and other excavation tools, rescuers dug a 30-centimeter-wide trench alongside the pit overnight.
The Child Is Now Safe And Sound
“At first, it appeared to be a simple operation because it appeared to be loose dirt, but once we started digging, we discovered rock, which made it difficult because excavators cannot dig through it,” Sanya explained.
He explained that the operation was risky because the digging could collapse the well’s sides onto the child.
After being carried to safety, the toddler was immediately taken to Phop Phra Hospital in Thailand.
“She is now safe. “She’s a little tired, but nothing serious,” Sanya explained.
SOURCE – (AP)
