Boy, 4, survives fall down 30ft well

A four-year-old boy who went missing for two days in China has been found safe - at the bottom of a 30ft well.

Deng Rui's grandparents left him playing at home one morning after he missed the bus to kindergarten.

But there was no sign of the little boy when they returned to their home, in Tengchong, Yunnan province, for lunch.

Police officers performed a city-wide search but found nothing - until a family friend suggested searching a deserted factory nearby.

"We really didn't have much hope, but went there to have a look," said Deng Zaixi, the boy's father.

In the factory yard, the family found a number of dry wells and began calling down each one in turn. Finally, they heard the boy's weak cries for help.

The family called out firefighters who took three hours to rescue the boy.

Rui said he had gone to the factory to play but had tripped and fallen down the well: "It was so painful and then I cried for help but nobody came," he said.

Amazingly, the boy survived his ordeal with nothing worse than a few scratches on his face. The soft walls and bottom of the well had cushioned his fall.

When asked how he had coped at the bottom of the well in the dark for two days, Rui said he had not been afraid as there was a cat down there with him.

The cat, thought to have fallen down the well earlier, was also rescued but ran away as soon as it reached the surface.