BEIJING – Hundreds of rescuers in northern China strove Wednesday to reach a boy who had been trapped in an abandoned well for over 60 hours.
The six-year-old was helping his father harvest cabbage at Baoding city in the northern province of Hebei Sunday when he toppled down the 40-metre-deep (131-foot) well, the Hebei News Network said.
As of 6pm Wednesday no signs of life had been found, it added.
A team of more than 500 rescuers and one hundred excavators arrived on scene after the father made a call for help on Chinese social media, the official Xinhua news agency said.
The 30-centimetre well shaft was too small for adults to enter, so rescuers widened it while pumping in oxygen, it added.
Photos showed teams of hard-hatted men hauling woven baskets filled with dirt away from the well’s mouth, while digging machines scrabbled frantically at the dry brown earth around it, carving a wide, shallow crater.
Multiple ambulances stood by on-site.
Rescue efforts have been hampered by the surrounding soil, whose soft and sandy consistency makes it prone to collapse.
