Sattahip teen lives through nightmarish ordeal

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Rescuers pull him from deep well

Sattahip rescuers had to work more than an hour to save a teenager who fell into a 30-meter well.

Kittipong Thappee, 15, was pulled from the 1.2-meter-wide Soi Wat Khakanthamat well after midnight Jan. 23 by Sawang Rojanathamsathan Foundation medics. The boy was shaken and tired, but otherwise unhurt.

A rescue worker is lowered into the well to retrieve 15-year-old Kittipong. A rescue worker is lowered into the well to retrieve 15-year-old Kittipong.

The teen explained he’d gone outside his uncle’s house around 11:45 p.m. to smoke a cigarette and sat on the covered well. When the 70 kg. youth did, the old cover broke in two and Kittipong didn’t have time to grab the edge before falling 10 m. into cold water.

Kittipong said he stayed afloat by treading water, but the air supply that far down was quite thin. A neighbor lowered a fan into the well to improve air circulation and rescuers eventually dropped an air tank to the boy while they arranged his rescue.