Man falls down well; neighbors recognize screams for help

File photo



KITSAP COUNTY -- Firefighters rescued a man who fell down a 15-foot well and was up to his neck in water Wednesday afternoon near Southworth, Wash., the Kitsap Sun reported.

Emergency personnel were called to a home on Olympia Drive in Kitsap County after a neighbor recognized a screaming man's voice. The neighbor searched around and found a man in a 3-foot diameter concrete well, 15-feet down and nearly submerged in water. According to the Sun, the man was up to his neck in water and clinging to pipes to help stay above water.

Firefighters arrived to the home and tossed the man a life preserver. Initially, crews called a vertical lift tow truck to help get the man out, but quickly realized they could pull him out with a rope. The man was lifted from the well at 2:37 p.m., the Sun reported, 11 minutes after emergency crews received the first call.

The man was treated for scrapes and bruises at his home and did not go to the hospital. He was reportedly renovating his well house when he slipped through a rotten wood lid.