Boy’s body inside 35-meter-deep concrete pillar retrieved

At 1:20 a.m., two members of a rescue team from Dong Thap Provincial Police Department wearing oxygen masks went down to a depth of 24m in an iron pipe surrounding the concrete pillar where Thai Ly Hao Nam died inside, and used specialized equipment to bring his body up.

It took nearly two hours for rescue forces to pull Nam’s body out of the deep ground.

Rescue forces pack equipment into their vehicle after completing the mission of bringing body of Thai Ly Hao Nam from a concrete pillar to the ground at 1:40 a.m. on January 20, 2023. Photo by Thanh Tung

Nam’s coffin was brought home by a car about a kilometer away and handed over to his family for burial service.

Thai Van Tan Tai, Nam’s father, wore a hat to cover his hair and sat crying at a house corner with his lifeless eyes. In front of Nam’s altar, Nguyen Thi My Linh, the dead boy’s mother, cried and then fainted.

“Though rescue work took a long time, but due to the surrounding soil in a closed environment, the decomposition process of Nam’s body took place more slowly than usual, so the boy’s body remained intact and will be buried based on his family wishes,” said Provincial Deputy Chairman Doan Tan Buu.

Based on results of the investigation along with the forensic examination at the scene, the preliminary cause determined that Nam died from multiple injuries when he collided with the hard wall and fell into the water environment, Buu said.

After the boy was buried, provincial authorities would order an investigation to clarify the cause and handle violations, if any, he added.

Nam and three other children who are his neighbors went to the bridge construction site in Dong Thap Province on December 31 to gather pieces of iron for the purpose of selling them to scrap vendors to earn some money.

The boy, who weighed merely 20kg, was walking when he fell into the hollow concrete pillar, which is just 25cm across.

No one knows for sure where the boy is located in the pillar. Witnesses said he screamed for help for 10 minutes after falling in but that there had been no response from the boy after that.

Dong Thap authorities announced Nam dead on January 4.