Boy trapped in well found dead after 4 days

A young boy who had been trapped down a well in China for more than four days was found dead Thursday, state media said, despite a desperate rescue attempt involving hundreds of people.

The six-year-old's body was discovered in the abandoned, narrow 80-metre (260-foot) deep well in Hebei province in northern China, the official Xinhua news agency said.

He had been helping his father harvest vegetables in Baoding city on Sunday when he fell.

A team of more than 500 rescuers and 100 excavators arrived on the scene after the father made a call for help on social media, Xinhua said.

The 30-centimetre well shaft was too small for adults to enter, so rescuers widened it while pumping in oxygen, it added.

Photos showed teams of hard-hatted men hauling woven baskets filled with dirt away from the well's mouth, while digging machines scrabbled frantically at the dry brown earth around it, carving a wide, shallow crater. Multiple ambulances stood by on-site.

Rescue efforts were hampered by the surrounding soil, whose soft and sandy consistency makes it prone to collapse.