Rescuers battle to save boy trapped down Afghan well

Boy, 9, appears to be trapped about 10 metres down a 25-metre shaft

Afghan people gather as rescuers try to reach to rescue a boy, 9, trapped for two days down a well in the remote southern Afghan village of Shokak, in Zabul province, on February 17. AFP

Rescuers were desperately trying on Thursday to reach a boy, 9, who was trapped for two days down a well in a remote southern Afghan village.

The operation in Shokak village, Zabul province, comes less than two weeks after a similar attempt to rescue a child from a Moroccan well gripped the world, but ended with the boy's death.

Video shared on social media, including by officials of Afghanistan's Taliban regime, showed a boy named as Haidar wedged in the well, able to move his arms and upper body.

"Are you OK my son?" his father can be heard saying. "Talk with me and don't cry, we are working to get you out."

"OK, I'll keep talking," the boy replies in a plaintive voice.

The video was obtained by rescuers lowering a camera down the narrow well by rope. Local officials said the boy appeared to be trapped about 10 metres down the 25-metre shaft.

"A team is there with an ambulance, oxygen and other necessary things," tweeted Abdullah Azzam, secretary to Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar.

Rescuers were digging an open-slit trench from an angle at the surface to try to reach the point where the boy is trapped.

It appeared to be a similar plan to that which rescuers tried in Morocco in early February, when a boy fell down a 32-metre well, but was dead when recovered five days later.

The ordeal of "little Rayan" gained global attention and sparked an outpouring of sympathy online, with the Arabic Twitter hashtag #SaveRayan trending.