In Vietnam, rescuers found and extracted on Friday the body of a 10-year-old boy who fell several weeks ago into a deep pit at a construction site in the south of the country, state media said on Friday.
Thai Ly Hao Nam had fallen into a hollow concrete pillar just 25 centimeters wide and 35 meters deep, sunk for the construction of a new bridge, when it appeared to be looking for scrap metal on December 31.
Rescuers in Dong Thap province in the Mekong Delta tried to drill into and soften the surrounding ground in an attempt to pull the pillar up and extract the young boy, but to no avail.
Four days after his fall, 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 specialist equipment to pull him up, the VNExpress news site reported.
“The rescue took a very long time. Since there was dirt around the pillar… the boy’s body was intact,” provincial committee vice-chairman Doan Tan Buu said on Friday.
The boy’s body was returned to his family for burial.