8.13 AM Tuesday, 19 March 2024
  • City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
  • Dubai 05:07 06:20 12:29 15:54 18:33 19:47
19 March 2024

Child survives 35m plunge into well

Published
By Staff

A five-year-old Saudi boy plunged down into a 35-metre empty water well in the Gulf Kingdom but was later pulled out unhurt by rescuers.

Abdullah Al Sharari was playing outside his grandfather’s house in the northwestern Saudi town of Tabarjal when he fell into the desert well, which was covered only by palm date branches, according to the Arabic language daily Sabq.

His family said they had first thought the boy had been abducted before the civil defence and other rescuers located him inside the well.

Sabq said the rescuers spent several hours shouting for him late night before they heard his muted voice coming out of the narrow opening of the well.


“Civil defence men quickly dangled oxygen down to him and shouted instructions to him on how to use it,” his father Musallam said.

“They then threw a rope and asked him to tie it around his waist. They told him how to clink to the rope while they lifted him. He was finally pulled out and thank God he was well. He was waking and speaking but we had to take him to hospital for examination.”

The paper did not say how the boy survived the fall but quoted civil defence sources as saying they believed he had landed on mud.

Several people, including children, have been reported killed or injured after falling into uncovered wells in Saudi Arabia over the past year.

The most tragic incident involved the fall of a little girl into a 100-metre deserted well in northwest Saudi Arabia early this year. It took an army of rescuers more than six weeks to recover only parts of her body.

The incident, which hit headlines and sent shockwaves across the Gulf Kingdom, has triggered a government campaign to shut all deserted wells and warn farmers against leaving their water wells uncovered or without notice boards.