Dramatic rescue saves Thai baby who fell well

Rescue workers reach the side of the well shaft on Tuesday morning

A little girl has been rescued by authorities after falling down a deep well in northern Thailand.

The 19-month-old child fell into a 13-meter-deep pit while playing on Monday afternoon in the province of Tak near the border with Myanmar.

Authorities launched a rescue operation overnight after the girl’s parents, who had been working in a nearby field, sounded the alarm.

She was taken to the hospital and treated for minor injuries, officials said.

“She has signs of fatigue but still has good vital signs,” local police chief Ratsaran Ketsoising told AFP.

Panic was sparked after the little girl – who was said to be the daughter of two Myanmar migrants – fell through a 30 cm (12 inch) wide gap at the top of the well.

The baby’s parents said they took her to work at a tapioca farm in Khiri Rat subdistrict. They said they left her under a tree while they worked.

But they sounded the alarm after they couldn’t find the child during their break and heard screams coming from the nearby well.

Rescue workers had to work all night with a mechanical excavator, which they used to dig a 10 m deep pit next to the well shaft.

Oxygen was pumped into the well to allow the child to breathe. Images at the scene showed rescue workers in hard hats working at the bottom of a deep pit.

However, authorities told local media that if they continued to use the excavator, they feared the well could collapse on itself and harm the child. So they used hand shovels to remove the last few feet of dirt.

PBS Thailand reported that rescue workers reached the child around 08:00 local time (01:00 GMT) but were unable to pull him out immediately as he appeared to have injured his leg.

However, cheers soon erupted from the assembled rescue workers after the girl was finally pulled from the well.

“We are so glad we were able to rescue him safely,” rescuer Chanachart Wancharernrung told reporters. “We’ve been trying since yesterday afternoon. We’ve been working without sleep. Everyone helped.”

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