Thai rescuers save Myanmar toddler trapped down well

By AFP
08 February 2023
Thai rescuers save Myanmar toddler trapped down well
A handout photo made available by the Payap rescue club shows Thai rescuers and soldiers carrying a Myanmar girl to a hospital after she was rescued from a deep groundwater hole at a cassava plantation in Phop Phra district, Tak province, Thailand, 07 February 2023. Photo: EPA

Rescuers on Tuesday retrieved a toddler who fell down a 13-metre (42-foot) well in remote rural Thailand, after an overnight digging operation.

The girl, aged 19 months, fell into the 30-centimetre-wide well in Tak province, near the Myanmar border, while playing on Monday afternoon.

Rescuers worked through the night using a mechanical digger to reach the girl, who is the daughter of migrant workers from Myanmar.

"She has signs of fatigue but still has good vital signs," Phop Phra police chief Ratsaran Ketsoising told AFP.

Video images from the scene showed rescuers in hard hats working at the bottom of a deep gully of red earth.

The girl is now receiving medical checks at hospital.

AFP