Boy Stuck in 10-Inch-Wide Shaft Dies

UPDATE Jan 5, 2023 1:19 AM CST

The 10-year-old boy who fell into a narrow open shaft at a Vietnam construction site on New Year's Eve has died. After nearly 100 hours of attempting to save Ly Hao Nam, rescuers are now trying to recover his body, the Guardian reports. He had earlier been heard crying for help. It's not clear when he died.

Jan 2, 2023 10:25 AM CST

A 10-year-old boy who was hunting for scrap metal at a building site in Vietnam tumbled into a 115-foot-deep hollow concrete pile on Saturday, and rescuers have been frantically working to free him. The BBC reports it's unclear how he managed to fit into the shaft, which is just 10 inches in diameter, nor is it clear where in the pillar he's located, reports Reuters. The child, Ly Hao Nam, was heard calling for help after falling, but he provided no sign of life when a camera was lowered toward him Monday. "We are trying our best. We cannot tell the boy's condition yet," one rescuer told AFP.

Oxygen has been pumped into the pillar, but other efforts to access him haven't proven successful: Attempts to raise the pile with cranes and excavators failed, and Reuters reports that an effort to soften the soil around the pillar has problematically caused it to tilt. VnExpress has many photos from the scene; view them here. (More trapped stories.)