According to Quanzhou.com, the dark well, the cold water, the long and winding snake… The belief of "surviving" made Ms. Qin from Hunan cling to the slippery cracks in the well wall to prevent herself from sinking. She kept telling herself "Hold on, hold on, hold on…" until she heard the shouts of search and rescue personnel above the wellhead, and she hurriedly responded loudly. Finally, she was saved. She had been in the well for 54 hours.
At about 9 o'clock on the 13th, Ms. Qin accidentally fell into an abandoned well while walking in the woods in Lingyuan Street, Jinjiang. The 48-year-old woman clung to the well wall with both hands and struggled to survive until rescuers arrived!
Everyone worked together to rescue Ms. Qin from the well.
Thermal imaging drones used in rescue operations
In the early morning of September 13, 48-year-old Ms. Qin walked out of her house and never returned. After the family discovered the abnormality, they mobilized relatives and friends to search everywhere, but she was nowhere to be found. At the time of the incident, Ms. Qin's son was on a business trip in Shenzhen. When he learned that his mother was missing, he hurried back to Jinjiang.
On the afternoon of September 14, the family searched to no avail and had no choice but to call the police for help. The police retrieved the surveillance video of the incident and found that Ms. Qin last appeared in a deserted forest behind Xingzhu Shoes Co., Ltd., Lingyuan Street, Jinjiang City. However, the family searched the small forest many times but failed to find anyone.
"The nearest distance to the well where my mother fell was only two or three meters away." After Ms. Qin was rescued, her son said that because the weeds were too tall and dense, he walked near the well mouth many times and never noticed anything unusual.
When she was discovered, Ms. Qin was clinging to the cracks in the well wall with her hands.
At around 9 a.m. on September 15, nearly 50 hours after Ms. Qin disappeared, her son asked Jinjiang Ruitong Blue Sky Emergency Rescue Center for help, hoping that they would help with the search.
Du Xiaohang, captain of the Jinjiang Ruitong Blue Sky Emergency Rescue Center, said that after receiving the request for help, they immediately dispatched 10 rescue teams and quickly rushed to the woods to search with the police and family members, and used thermal imaging drones to conduct blanket investigations.
The forest was overgrown with weeds, some of which almost reached the rescuers' waists. The forest was not large, so search and rescue personnel searched around and found two small ponds inside, so they dispatched personnel to investigate the small ponds respectively. Soon, the investigation of the pond was completed, but still nothing was found.
Rescuers went down the well and fixed Ms. Qin on a stretcher.
The desperate well is seven or eight meters deep and there are snakes swimming around.
The unwilling search and rescue team members lined up again, conducting a net-like search two or three meters apart, calling Ms. Qin's name while searching. At around 1:45 that afternoon, Du Xiaohang suddenly heard a faint cry for help coming from nearby. He immediately picked up his energy, followed the sound, and soon found a deep well covered by weeds. The rescuers dug through the weeds at the mouth of the well and finally found Ms. Qin.
At that time, Ms. Qin was soaked in the water, her whole body turned white, and her pale fingers dug tightly into the slippery cracks of the well wall to prevent herself from sinking into the water. "She was almost out of strength, but she still didn't dare to let go." A team member involved in the rescue said that Ms. Qin fell into a deep well that had been abandoned for a long time, and snakes could be seen swimming in the well. Afterwards, the water depth was detected to be about four meters, and the water surface was also three to four meters away from the wellhead.
Seeing this, Wu Jiake, deputy captain of the Jinjiang Blue Sky Rescue Team, immediately tied on a safety rope. With the cooperation of his teammates above him, he immediately went down into the well and fixed Ms. Qin to himself to prevent her from sinking. He also added rehydration salt and water to her.
The deep well is narrow at the top and wide at the bottom. The diameter of the wellhead is only about 1.2 meters, and the diameter of the inside of the well is about 2 meters. The site lacks professional lifting equipment, and the rescue team was unable to rescue the person for a while. As a result, the rescuers quickly asked for help from the Jinjiang Fire Department.
Soon, firefighters from Jinjiang Fire Anhai Fire Rescue Station rushed to the scene carrying tripods, pulleys and other tools. After the rescuers set up the tripod at the mouth of the well, they used ropes to lower the stretcher. The underwater rescue team members fixed Ms. Qin on the stretcher and then pulled her out of the well. At this time, it had been 54 hours since Ms. Qin fell into the well.
"I only stayed at the bottom of the well for more than 40 minutes. I was shivering with cold when I came up. It's hard to imagine how Ms. Tan persisted. It's very amazing." After rescuing Ms. Tan, Wu Jiake said with emotion.
Ms. Qin was immediately sent to Jinjiang Hospital and then transferred to Quanzhou No. 1 Hospital for hospitalization. According to Lin Xianzuan, the attending physician at the Thoracic Surgery Department of Quanzhou First Hospital, after examination, Ms. Qin had two rib fractures, accompanied by a mild pneumothorax, and conservative treatment was enough. In addition, Ms. Qin had many pustules from mosquito bites on her body, and her right forearm had been bitten by a snake. However, after consultation with the doctor, it was confirmed that it was a non-venomous snake and the wound was not obvious. She was hospitalized for a few days for observation. If nothing happened, she could be discharged and go home to recuperate.
After being rescued, Ms. Qin was sent to the hospital for treatment.
Survival and caring about your family are the motivation to persevere
Yesterday afternoon, Ms. Qin was interviewed by reporters on her bed in Quanzhou No. 1 Hospital.
Recalling the 54 hours of desperate survival in the deep well, Ms. Qin still has lingering fears. At about 9 a.m. on the 13th, she, who worked in a nearby factory, went for a walk in the forest. Because the weeds were so tall and dense, she couldn't see the well at all, and accidentally fell in. After falling into the well, she, who knew how to swim, ignored the bruises and soreness on her body and immediately found a large stone crevice on the well wall, and then grabbed it tightly with her fingers to prevent herself from sinking into the water.
"I was so desperate at the time and kept shouting for help." Ms. Qin recalled that the well water was very cold, there were many bugs, and there were several snakes swimming in the water. On the first day after falling into the well, she was bitten by a snake on her right arm.
"I could hear them calling my name down the well, but they couldn't hear my shouts." Ms. Qin said that she heard voices coming from above the well many times, and she also shouted back for help. But the voices of the searchers came closer and farther away again and again. At that time, her heart was filled with despair. However, thinking that her children, husband, and parents, who were already in their 70s and 80s, would sink if they gave up, she gained the motivation to persist.
Her concern for her family encouraged her time and time again not to give up. From day to night, from night to day, Ms. Qin, who was waiting for rescue underground, finally heard the cries of search and rescue personnel again. "I thought I was finally saved. I quickly shouted, 'I'm here, I'm here, help me quickly'…" She hurriedly shouted for help, but this time she was not disappointed. Soon the rescuers opened the well mouth and found her.
"After so many years of doing rescue work, this is the first time we rescued a trapped person who survived in such an extreme environment. It was really worth it!" Looking back on the rescue process a day later, Du Xiaohang was still excited.
"Professional! No gorgeous words can express our gratitude to the rescue team!" Ms. Qin's son gave a thumbs up to the rescue team to express his gratitude.
