Hoping for a miracle: Rescuers working at the site where the boy is thought to be trapped in Dong Thap province. — AFP
Local authorities are still racing against time to rescue a 10-year-old boy trapped in a 35m-deep concrete pipe pit in the southern province of Dong Thap since Saturday afternoon.
Thai Ly Hao Nam and three other children went to the Roc Sen bridge construction site to collect scrap metal on Saturday, but fell into the concrete pillar with an opening of just 25cm in diameter. Local authorities yesterday said the prognosis of the boy’s health was poor.
Rescue work started at noon the same day. Hundreds of people including firefighters and police officers along with rescue equipment like excavators, cranes, and augers were mobilised.
Cylinders of oxygen had been brought to the scene to help the boy breathe. Water had also been given to the boy but since Sunday morning, there was no sign of him using the water, according to Phu Loi Commune’s People’s Committee.
The rescue team had decided on Monday to save the boy by pulling up the pillar, which has a closed end at the bottom, by first softening the ground around it through drilling and pumping water.
Rescuers had drilled more than 30m down the soil next to the pillar and were expected to complete the remaining 5m on Monday night.
Early yesterday, rescuers were planning to use cranes and specialised equipment to pull up the pillar, before cutting it to bring the boy out.
Le Hoang Bao, director of Dong Thap’s Transport Department, said the team was determined to pull the pillar up yesterday morning.
A firefighting officer from Ho Chi Minh City, who had experience rescuing people from hundreds of metres underground, said the boy’s case was “very complicated” as he was stuck in a pillar that was too narrow for rescuers to climb into.
“The only solution is to pull the pillar up,” he told the VnExpress online newspaper.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Monday issued an official dispatch requesting involvement and cooperation among ministries to speed up the rescue.
He ordered Dong Thap’s people’s committee to work with the various agencies to mobilise all resources and equipment needed for the rescue work to ensure progress, speed and effectiveness of the rescue work.
He also ordered ministers of national defence, public security, transport and construction to mobilise experts immediately and assign competent forces with experience to support the rescue work.
Chinh gave orders to the relevant authorities to inspect the safety measures for the Roc Sen project.
The prime minister asked the construction ministry, transport ministry and chairman of provinces and cities’ People’s Committees to strengthen inspection to ensure safety in construction projects to avoid similar incidents. — Vietnam News/ANN
