19-Month-Old Girl Saved After Falling Into Deep Well for 18 Hours

A 19-month-old girl was successfully rescued 18 hours after falling into a well while playing Monday afternoon in Thailand’s northern Tak province.

Rescue workers arrived on scene andcalled out to the girl. Hearing her faint cries in response, they got to work trying to determine the condition of the child and what needed to be done to complete the rescue, according to theBangkok Post.

Chiravuth Rungjamratratsami/AP

“It seemed like an easy operationat 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,” said Sanya Phetset, Phop Phra district chief in the Tak province said, per theIndependent.

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Eventually crews were able to make it to her at around 8 a.m. local time, but had to extract her carefully as she had suffered an injury to her leg, per the BBC.

Fire & Rescue Thailand, a non-profit organization, posted an update on their Facebook, saying that thechild was rescued at 10:40 a.m.on Tuesday and rushed to Phop Phra Hospital. Cheers from rescuers reportedly broke out as the girl was finally brought out of the shaft wrapped in a green medical jacket.

“We are so glad we could rescue her safely,” rescue worker Chanachart Wancharernrung told reporters, per BBC. “We have been trying since yesterday afternoon. We worked without sleep. Everyone helped out.”

Local police chief Ratsaran Ketsoising told AFP that the girl “has signs of fatigue but still has good vital signs.”

source: people.com