After being trapped at the bottom of a well for 12 hours, Chen Liangcai was finally rescued. At this moment, overwhelmed with mixed feelings, he burst into tears. The Huizhou Fire Department provided photos.
New Express News reported by journalist Liu Zhengxu: On January 31st, Sichuan migrant worker Chen Liangcai, who has been in the well-digging business in Huizhou for 10 years, never expected that his first job of the Dragon Year would almost cost him his life - due to a cave-in of an old well, he was trapped at the bottom of a water well more than 10 meters deep. After the fire rescue personnel arrived at the scene, as the rescue operation progressed, unforeseen dangerous situations kept appearing, putting Chen Liangcai's life in great danger. Eventually, after 12 hours of rescue efforts, the Huizhou fire rescue personnel successfully saved Chen Liangcai.
[10:30] Fire department arrives at the scene
On the morning of January 31st, the Huicheng District Brigade of the Huizhou Corps received an emergency call reporting that a man was trapped at the bottom of a well in Longtang Village, Ma'an Town, Huicheng District, and his condition was unknown.
At 10:30, the first batch of rescue officers arrived at the scene. It was learned that Chen Liangcai, a Sichuan-born well-digger, was trapped at the bottom of a 10-meter-deep well. At this point, Chen Liangcai had already been completely buried in sand and mud, and the situation was extremely critical.
"The inner diameter of the well opening is less than one meter, and the new and old well rings are intertwined, with the new well ring precariously hanging. The environment is very complex," described the firefighters involved in the rescue. Therefore, shovels and other digging tools could not be used; they could only carefully dig with their hands.
[13:30] Another collapse in the well
After over an hour of tense digging, at 12:10 PM, the head and right arm of the trapped Chen Liangcai emerged from the bottom of the well. After multiple soldiers took turns descending into the well to dig, Chen Liangcai's head and body had escaped the burial of mud and sand. However, another dangerous situation soon appeared: at 1:30 PM, water began seeping through the well walls, and there was another collapse within the well, burying Chen Liangcai's head again.
In a critical moment, firefighter Lü Mingju replaced the firefighter who had been continuously working for over an hour, hanging upside down on a rope with his head facing the bottom of the well, descending into the well and starting to dig out sand and stones by hand. After more than ten minutes of urgent rescue, Chen Liangcai's nose finally emerged, but his condition was somewhat dire: due to oxygen deficiency, he had become somewhat unconscious, but fortunately, he was still breathing.
[17:40] Excavator urgently deployed
Digging rescue from the well opening could no longer be carried out. After a discussion among the rescue personnel who had arrived, it was decided to directly dig under the well to save the person.
At 5:40 PM, a medium-sized excavator that had been urgently contacted quickly arrived at the scene. Three meters, five meters, eight meters, nine meters... After more than two hours of intense digging, at 8:30 PM, the excavator dug out a 10-meter-deep platform next to the well. Several rescue personnel immediately descended to this 10-meter-deep platform to manually dig horizontally, using small hoes and shovels and other tools to dig inward next to the well and gradually penetrate the well wall, exposing Chen Liangcai's upper body.
[22:30] Successful rescue of the trapped individual
Just as the rescue personnel were preparing to pull Chen Liangcai out with a rope, danger struck again: accompanied by a sound from inside the well, the sand and stones in the well wall fell again, and large pieces of cement well rings occasionally dropped too. If the person was pulled out at this time, the trapped individual might be hit by falling cement blocks. The rescue personnel put a helmet on Chen Liangcai and found wooden boards, first supporting the cylindrical structure to prevent it from collapsing due to excessive load, while also supporting the falling cement blocks nearby, forming a new protective space.
At 22:30, after relentless efforts by everyone, Chen Liangcai was successfully rescued. At this point, it had been exactly 12 hours since the initial collapse occurred.
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