South Carolina Teen Rescued From Well 40 Feet Underground

GAFFNEY, SC — Firefighters in Gaffney, South Carolina, rescued a teen Saturday night after he fell around 40 feet into a well.

The Gaffney City Fire Department received a call just before 8 p.m. Saturday and found the 14-year-old in the well off Pacolet Highway in Gaffney. The boy was holding on to pipes in the well to help keep himself afloat, officials said in a Facebook post.

The teen fell after the lid to the 24-inch concrete well crumbled under his feet, a Gaffney City Fire Department training officer said in a social media post.

A firefighter was lowered into the well, and the teen was removed around 8:24 p.m. He was taken to a hospital with "what appeared to be non life threatening injuries," authorities said.

The teen has since been released from the hospital and is "doing well," a Gaffney Fire Department spokesperson told Patch.

Operations such as the well rescue are "not routine," but are scenarios that Gaffney firefighters often train for, according to the post.

"We're proud of the professionalism showed by our crews," the statement said.