Child falls to death in 273-metre water well

A four-year-old Syrian boy plunged to his death in a 273-metre-deep water well in Saudi Arabia and civil defence toiled through the night to recover the body.

The boy was playing near the uncovered well in the central town of Wadi Al Dawasir while his father was working nearby as a driller.

Sabq newspaper quoted his father as saying that he told his son to stay away from the well and that the boy asked for juice and biscuit.

“I went to the shop and bought him what he wanted..I gave them to him and went to the mosque to pray with my brother…when I returned he was not there,” the father said.

“I looked down and I saw him clutching to the rope….I screamed to my brother and we started to pull him up…he was nearly two metres below when the rope snapped and my son plunged to his death..I saw him falling to his death but I could not do anything.”

Civil defence went to the farm area and used long ropes and ladders to pull out the child, who was already dead, the paper said.

“They found the body and pulled it out at dawn after working most of the night to reach the bottom of the well,” it added.