Relief at rescue of 1-year-old baby trapped in 15m well for 19 hours in Peru

Cameras were on hand to capture the moment a 1-year-old baby named Jesus was saved after being trapped in a 15m well for 19 hours.

The rescue took place in the Peruvian town of Orellana in the early hours of February 28.

The little boy’s father had been walking through a field to bathe in a local natural pool and was unaware that his son was following him.

He later heard crying and found baby Jesus 15m down the well.

The Peruvian Navy, police and fire brigade joined locals to dig a parallel well in an attempt to rescue Jesus Mateo and dramatic footage captured the moment the distressed child was finally plucked from the well, 19 hours after he became stuck.

Cheers rang out as Jesus rose from the well and was taken for medical checks.

Baby Jesus is rescued. Photo / ViralPress

Another video shows the baby being taken from a helicopter and transported to an ambulance.

Despite his fall and long ordeal, Jesus emerged relatively unscathed, with reports saying he was suffering dehydration and had sustained minor injuries to his arm and face

During the rescue, he was given a carton of juice to stay hydrated while his father spoke to him through a tube and air was also pumped down into the well.

An investigation is now under way into who dug the well and left it uncovered.

Trapped underground

Baby Jesus is the latest child to capture the attention of the media after becoming trapped underground.

In 1987, 18-month-old Jessica McClure fell down a 7m hole in her grandmother’s backyard in Midland, Texas, and was stuck for 58 hours before rescuers were able to pull her out of the 20cm-wide hole.

And in 2018, members of the Wild Boars soccer team – 12 boys, none of whom could swim and their 25-year-old coach – were rescued from a cave in Thailand by divers who guided the boys between the ages of 12 and 16 through passages as narrow as a couple of feet.

The following year, 2-year-old Julen Rosello died after falling 109m into an illegally excavated shaft in Spain.

Rescuers tried desperately to reach the little boy, eventually reaching his body nearly two weeks after he went missing.

In 2022, a 5-year-old boy named Rayan was trapped in a well in Morocco.

After a long rescue operation that took four days and four nights, rescuers managed to bring Rayan out of the 32m-deep well and he was transported to hospital by ambulance.

Sadly, he did not survive the ordeal.