WEIFANG CITY, SHANDONG PROVINCE, China (Reuters) – Rescuers in eastern China saved a three-year-old boy from a well on Thursday (March 31), state media reported.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said that the boy had fallen 11.8 meters-deep (38.7 feet) into the 90 meter-deep (295.2 feet) well while playing in an empty courtyard on Thursday afternoon in Weifang City of Shandong province.
Local firefighters were called to the scene soon after. Unable to physically reach the boy due to the narrowness of the well shaft, the firefighters began pumping oxygen into the well, CCTV said.
They also attempted to dig around the well with heavy machinery just in case they were forced to physically retrieve him from the shaft.
They eventually were able to lift the boy out of the shaft by hooking a rope to his right wrist, tightening it, then pulling him out, CCTV said.
CCTV broadcast footage of rescuers pulling the boy out of the well and then placing him in an ambulance.
The boy was in a “normal” condition and sustained no serious injuries when examined at the hospital, CCTV said.