The child fell down the 13-metre-deepshaft while playing
A 19-month-old girl who fell down a 42-foot well in Thailand on Monday was safely rescued after an 18-hour gruelling overnight rescue operation. According to the BBC, the child fell down the 13-metre-deep shaft while playing on Monday afternoon in Tak province, near the Myanmar border.
The parents of the child, who are migrant workers from Myanmar, had left her under a tree while they worked in a field nearby. However, when they returned to check on the toddler during their break, they could not find her and then heard cries coming from the well.
The first rescuers who arrived at the scene lowered a camera into the hole to check the situation, following which a tube was slid into it to provide oxygen for the child to breathe. Emergency crews then worked for nearly 18 hours and started digging the area using several backhoes and other excavation devices. A little while later, authorities and rescuers were able to pull her out amid a wave of cheers.
The official Facebook page of Fire and Rescue Thailand also shared pictures of the rescue operation.
Photos and videos shared on social media show the dramatic moment when she's carried out of the well by military and rescue workers.
See the pics here
‘'It seemed like an easy operation at first because it looked like loose dirt, but once we started digging we found rock, which made it difficult because excavators can't dig through it'', Phop Phra district chief Sanya Phetset told Thairath TV, as reported by New York Post. He explained that the operation was delicate because the digging risked collapsing the sides of the well onto the child.
The toddler was immediately sent to Phop Phra Hospital and treated for minor injuries.
“She is safe now. She's a bit tired but there's nothing serious,” Mr Phetset added.