Rescuers are frantically trying to save a boy who fell down a 400ft-deep well.
Tanmay Sagu, 8, was playing with friends on Tuesday night in Madhya Pradesh, India, when he fell into a borewell - a deep hole farmers use to extract water from the earth during shortages.
District magistrate Shyamendra Jaiswal told ANI news agency said the operation could continue for another few hours.
"It is taking longer than expected because there are stones [inside the well]," he said.
The team is using excavators to clear the stone from the passage.
Tanmay is stuck around 55ft down the 400ft-deep well.
The rescue team has managed to feed an oxygen tube through to the lad's location, but they are unable to assess his condition through the layers of mud.
Madhya Pradesh's disaster response team rushed to the boy's aide after the fall in Betul district.
Lawmaker Shivraj Singh Chouhan said he was in "constant touch" with local officials and praying for the youngster's safe return to his family.
Betul Additional district magistrate Shyamendra Jayaswal said the lad is "not responding" - meaning he may have been knocked unconscious during the ordeal.
Jayaswal told news agency ANI: "The rescue operation has been underway since we received the information. Efforts are being made to take out the child.
"At 2.30am SDRF [State Disaster Response Force], Home guards, and Police teams reached the spot to rescue the child. It might take another two-three hours."
Jaiswal added: 'It is taking more time than what we expected because there are stones.
'We called a breaker machine at night to break the stones. JCB and poclain machines are also being used.'
Amid water shortages, a number of farmers turned to setting up borewells so they can still irrigate their crops.
But once they've been used up, the wells run dry and they're left uncovered - posing a serious risk to passing children, several of whom have died from suffocation after falling into narrow borewells.
In February, a little boy who had fallen down a 33ft well tragically died despite a three-day rescue effort.
Haidar, 6, was trapped and was unable to move his arms and upper body as rescuers tried to dig the youngster out.
The boy's grandfather said he fell down the well while helping adults dig a new borehole to reach water in the drought-ravaged region of Afghanistan.
Heavy diggers were brought into the area and a large trench had been dug for workers to try and reach the boy.
A large rock blocked the final few metres after rescuers worked through the night to reach him.
Zabul police spokesman Zabiullah Jawhar said: “The rescue team has faced a new obstacle and a rock is preventing them from digging more.
