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Ly Hao Nam, the 10-year-old who fell 115 feet into a concrete pillar at a bridge construction site in southern Vietnam, was declared dead on Wednesday.
The boy had been searching for scrap metal with his friends on New Year’s Eve when he fell into a 10-inch-wide concrete pile.
Shortly after falling into the pillar on Saturday, the boy was heard calling out for help. However, rescuers heard no response from him as they dropped a camera down the pit to find the boy’s position on Monday, reported Reuters.
After nearly 100 hours of trying to rescue the boy, authorities determined that the boy had died after a detailed assessment of the incident, according to Deputy Chief of the province Doan Tan Buu.
Buu told journalists that the boy had been “trapped in a hollow pillar very deep down… with multiple injuries and not enough oxygen for a very long time.”
“We had prioritized the rescue of the boy. However, the conditions mean it is impossible the boy has survived.”
Le Hoang Bao, director of the province’s Department of Transport, said that although there are fences and warning signs posted around the site, officials will be assessing the location for safety violations.
Rescuers are now working to extract the boy’s body from the pit to be prepared for burial. The boy has now been in the hole for a total of five days.
Nam’s father was brought to the place of the incident prior to Wednesday’s press briefing.
