03/01/2023 08:14 (act. 03/01/2023 08:14)
Little Nam (10) fell into a drain on Saturday. ©AFP
Three days after a boy fell 35 meters down a concrete pipe in southwest Vietnam, emergency services are still struggling to save him.
It is unclear whether the 10-year-old boy is still alive, Vietnamese media reported on Tuesday. All attempts to soften the earth around the pipe, which is closed at the bottom, and to lift it out of the ground with a crane have so far failed, wrote the newspaper “VnExpress”. Now another rescue plan would be implemented.
asked for help
The boy, whose name is given as Nam, fell into a pipe on Saturday at a construction site where a bridge is being built. The tube is only about 25 centimeters in diameter. Nobody thought a 10-year-old could get stuck so deep in the tube, “because the space inside is as wide as an adult’s hand,” said an aide. According to media reports, the child initially called for help after the fall.
Rescue work was “very difficult” due to the extreme narrowness of the tube and despite great efforts, Tuoi Tre newspaper said, quoting a military spokesman. The emergency services began drilling deep around the pipe to place a 1.5 meter diameter steel pipe around the concrete pipe – so they could more easily pull it out. The plan is to use a detector to determine the boy’s exact position before the concrete is opened, the military spokesman said.
The National Search and Rescue Committee said on Tuesday, “After three nights of efforts, the rescue of the 10-year-old boy who fell into a 35-metre-deep concrete pipe at Roc Sen Bridge in Dong Thap Province , is now in the morning, rescuers are expected to gradually pull out the concrete pipe and pick up the child”.