The residents of the village of Tel Ahour in Syria did not sleep a wink throughout the night as they joined the Civil Defense, known as the White Helmets, to conduct a painstaking operation resembling "surgery" for hours to rescue a child from the village who had fallen into a well. Miraculously, they managed to save him at dawn.
In the details of this sad yet joyful story, the Syrian Civil Defense received a report at 20:54 (local time) on Saturday, June 8, about a seven-year-old child who had fallen into an artesian well under construction in Tel Ahour, south-west of Idlib. Upon arrival at the scene, rescue teams found the child trapped at a depth of about 5 meters within the well's opening, caught in the metal casing and entangled in cables connected to a water pump in the well.
According to the Civil Defense, they provided worried parents and villagers with updates throughout the operation. The rescue involved 50 volunteers from 10 search and rescue teams, alongside 10 heavy engineering vehicles to assist in digging, 3 ambulance teams with their vehicles, and a medical team of 5 specialized volunteers, as well as a specialist operations team of 5 members.
One recorded video showed the frantic father of the child, caught between life and death, his condition transformed from despair to hope and joy after his son was rescued alive. A live broadcast of the rescue operation for the trapped child, named Aasqar Diab, was also conducted.
Before anything else, the ambulance team supplied the child with oxygen inside the well to preserve his life. The rescue efforts commenced at 21:18, where vital signs were monitored and communication with him established. Immediately, heavy engineering vehicles from the Syrian Civil Defense began operations to dig a pathway to reach the child.
To create an opening that would allow access to the child at his location, both horizontal and vertical digging operations were initiated, applying engineering methods while taking utmost safety precautions to prevent any harm to the child during the rescue. Continuous communication with him, along with oxygen supplementation, was maintained.
After about an hour of work, the teams detected vital signs that indicated the child was still alive. They kept conversing with him to reassure him without exhausting him while continuing oxygen flow into the well. By 23:30, the digging operations approached the vicinity where the child Aasqar Diab was trapped, and the teams reached him through a sideways opening created in the well wall at 00:18 on Sunday.
The Civil Defense ensured the readiness of the ambulance team and checked the ambulance's preparedness as the moments to rescue child Aasqar Diab drew near. A medical team from Al-Rahma Hospital in Darkoush, comprising an anesthesiologist and a care technician, was dispatched to provide immediate medical attention upon his extraction from the well.
At exactly 00:55, the teams managed to rescue the child, bringing him out of the well unconscious and exhibiting health symptoms including oxygen deficiency from prolonged confinement in the well, as well as pressure on his chest, along with injuries and bruises on his face, shoulders, and legs from the fall. He was swiftly transported to Al-Rahma Hospital in Darkoush for first aid and is currently receiving treatment.
