The incredible moment a child was rescued from an 80-foot borewell after being trapped for four days has been captured on video.
Rahul Sahu, 11, was trapped in the borewell in the Janjgir-Champa district of Chhattisgarh, India, before being pulled out alive at 11pm local time on Tuesday night.
The mammoth operation took over 105 hours after the boy fell into the hole last Friday.
The rescue teams came very close to Rahul and saw him at about 10.15pm after 70-feet of the pit was dug up parallel to the borewell, before a 15-foot tunnel was dug to connect the pit with the hole.
Following getting very close, they realised he was alive and breathing so had two ambulances on standby to treat him.
This is the second time in a week a small child has been rescued from a borewell in India.
Shivan Badhel, is reportedly alive after a successful army rescue operation which lasted 40 minutes, on 7 June, in Dudapur village, located in western India's Gujarat region.
The 18-month-old baby fell 20ft down the 500ft-deep well while playing alone near a hut on a farm where his family work as agricultural labourers.
Mukesh Patel, the sub-divisional magistrate of Dhrangadhra, told The Indian Express that the Army rescuers team reached the well at around 9.45pm.
He continued: "They lowered a hook tied to a rope in the borewell. They managed to trap the boy's T-shirt in the hook and then gently pulled him out of the borewell within 45 minutes after reaching the spot."
It is believed that Sahu was kept the company in the hole by a snake and a frog.
According to local reports, around 150 officials were deployed, alongside 500 personnel including officers from the National Disaster Response Force, with authorities using robots among other resources.
In video footage taken at the scene, the child can be seen being carried on a stretcher out of the hole and was taken to Apollo Hospital in Bilaspur, where he is currently in the ICU receiving treatment.
He is in a stable condition.
The Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Bhupesh Baghel, said: "With everyone's prayers and the relentless, dedicated efforts of the rescue team, Rahul Sahu has been brought out safely.
“It is our wish that he recovers completely as soon as possible. Our boy is brave. A snake and a frog were his companions for 104 hours.
“Today the whole of Chhattisgarh is celebrating...we all wish for his return from hospital soon. Congratulations and thanks again to all the team involved in this operation.”
