On Tuesday, Feb 7, Thai rescuers pulled out a 19-month-old Myanmarese toddler from a 13-meter deep and 30-centimeter-wide well located at the cassava plantation farm in Thailand’s Tak province.
The whole rescue operation took about 18 hours to complete. The girl’s parents are migrant workers from Myanmar, according to the local news.
The Incident
The incident happened during the late hours of Monday. The girl’s parents told the local news that they had brought their 19-month-old daughter to the tapioca farm in the Khiri Rat sub-district, where they work.
They added that they had left the baby under a tree while they were working at the site. On their break, the parents noticed the girl had gone missing. They immediately alerted the authorities as they could hear her cries coming from a nearby deep well.
Rescuers have been working for over 16 hours to attempt to rescue a one year old girl trapped in a narrow, 15-metre-deep hole in Tak province in northern Thailand.
At 9.30am, rescuers made a breakthrough and managed to reach the toddler. #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar pic.twitter.com/QaCmPjMCsB— Nimrod from Burma (@NimrodAndrew) February 7, 2023
The Arrival of the Rescue Team
The local media reported that the rescuers’ first action was to lower a camera and an oxygen tube into the well. They then used a mechanical digger to dig a 10m hole right next to the shaft. However handheld shovels had to be used, in fear of injuring the child. It was an overnight digging operation.
According to PBS Thailand, the rescuers found the girl at 08:00 local time (01:00 GMT), but they were unable to immediately pull her out as she seemed to have a leg injury.
“She has signs of fatigue but still has good vital signs,” local police chief Ratsaran Ketsoising told AFP.
Mr. Phetset told the local news that it looked like an easy operation at first, but excavators had a hard time digging through the rock.
“It seemed like an easy operation at 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,” Mr. Phetset said.
A Wave of Cheers among Rescuers
A little while later, authorities and rescuers were able to pull her out and a wave of cheers among the locals emerged.
A video circulating on social media also shows the rescuers hugging, clapping and weeping as the girl was placed on a stretcher.
She was taken to Phop Phra Hospital. Mr. Phetset also stated, “She is safe now. She’s a bit tired, but there’s nothing serious.”
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