Sylvie Claire / January 20, 2023
Rescuers in Vietnam on Friday found and extracted the body of a 10-year-old boy who fell several weeks ago into a deep well at a construction site in the country's south, state media reported Friday.
Thai Ly Hao Nam had fallen into a hollow concrete pillar just 25 centimeters wide and 35 meters deep, poured for the construction of a new bridge, while seemingly searching for scrap metal on December 31.
Rescuers from Dong Thap province in the Mekong Delta tried to drill and soften the surrounding soil in an attempt to pull the pillar up and extract the boy, but to no avail.
Four days after he fell, authorities declared the boy dead, adding that finding his body would be "a very difficult task.
Hundreds of soldiers and engineering experts were deployed.
Early Friday, the boy was brought to the surface after rescuers descended to a depth of 25 meters and then used specialized equipment to bring him up, the news site VNExpress reported.
"The rescue took a very long time. As there was soil around the pillar ... the boy's body was intact," Doan Tan Buu, vice chairman of the provincial committee, said Friday.
The boy's body was returned to his family for burial.