wells

12 Stories

17 Bodies Thrown in Well Point to Medieval Hate Crime

Researchers say individuals were Jewish, perhaps killed during antisemitic riot

(Newser) - Almost 20 years after the jumbled bodies of 17 men, women, and children were found at the bottom of a medieval well in Norwich, England, researchers believe they know why they were thrown in there, many of them headfirst: It was an antisemitic hate crime. In sequencing DNA preserved in...

Boy Unable to 'Speak or Listen' Rescued After 5 Days in Well

'The whole of Chhattisgarh is celebrating' Rahul Sahu's retrieval: official

(Newser) - Rescuers in India have managed to save a 10-year-old boy who was trapped for almost five days in an 80-foot well. Rahul Sahu fell 60 feet into the well in the village of Janjgir in Chhattisgarh state, per the BBC , which reports such uncovered wells are common in the country'...

Boy Stuck in Well for 3 Days Dies Minutes After Rescue

'With great sorrow, young Haidar is separated from us forever'

(Newser) - Two weeks after a 5-year-old boy died after falling into a well in Morocco, another 5-year-old has died in a very similar tragedy in Afghanistan. Officials say Haidar, who fell down a shaft while trying to "help" adults dig a new borehole in a drought-stricken village Tuesday, was alive...

Boy, 5, Doesn't Survive Fall Into 100-Foot Well

Rescuers in Morocco reached Rayan Oram after 4 days

(Newser) - Update: A 5-year-old boy who was trapped in a well in northern Morocco for four days has died. Rescuers had pulled Rayan Oram, wrapped in a yellow blanket, out on Saturday night, the AP reports, while his parents waited in an ambulance. The crowd cheered as rescuers emerged from the...

Heart-Stopping Rescue After Boy Plunges Into 44-Foot Well

4-year-old was on walk with parents in Garceno, Texas, when he fell in the hole

(Newser) - It took a few seconds for a 4-year-old boy to fall into a well in Texas on Tuesday, and at least six hours to get him back out again. The boy had slipped into the 44-foot water well while walking with his parents at a ranch property in Garceno around...

Man Fleeing Wild Dog Is Trapped in Well for 6 Days

Ukrainian man Roberts Jacob Matthews spent 6 days in it

(Newser) - A Ukrainian man who fell into an abandoned well and broke his leg while being chased by a wild dog on Indonesia’s tourist island of Bali was rescued after being trapped for nearly a week, police said Monday. Roberts Jacob Matthews, 29, stumbled into the nearly empty 13-foot-deep concrete...

A Sad Find: Body of Toddler Who Fell Down Well

Julen Rosello had plummeted down borehole in Spain on Jan. 13

(Newser) - Nearly two weeks after it began, a story overseas ends in heartbreak. Rescuers who'd been desperately trying to get to a toddler who'd fallen down a well in Spain had hoped that he might still be alive due to the cold weather, which could have slowed down his...

This Medieval Well May Be Both Blessed and Cursed

Archaeologists think they've found St. Anne's Well near Liverpool

(Newser) - In medieval times, pilgrims flocked to England in quest of St. Anne's Well, which was said to cure ailments and wash away sins. Archaeologists now say they've rediscovered that large sandstone well on a private farm near Liverpool using only a 1983 photo and a description, reports the...

Boy Searching for Lost Dog Tumbles Down 23-Foot Hole

The dog was down there, too, but Mississippi rescuers got them both out

(Newser) - Little Gabe Allbritton was with his grandmother yesterday just outside Brookhaven, Miss., when family members think he heard something he had been waiting to hear for days: the sound of his missing dog, the Clarion-Ledger reports. But when he turned to follow the sound, he suddenly disappeared, falling down a...

Drought Drying Up Home Wells
 Drought Drying Up Home Wells 

Drought Drying Up Home Wells

Families forced to adapt in a hurry

(Newser) - If you rely on well water and live in the Midwest, hopefully you're not too attached to the idea of showering. The drought pummeling the nation has been drying up a lot of private wells, the New York Times reports, forcing rural homeowners to either take the not-exactly-cheap step...

Foes of 'Fracking' Disclosure Rake In Gas Industry Dollars

Lawmakers oppose proposal requiring drillers to list chemicals

(Newser) - Seems like a reasonable enough request: Nearly 50 members of Congress want drilling companies to disclose what kind of chemicals they use to "frack" gas wells on federal land. Worried that toxins will leach into groundwater during the practice known as hydraulic fracturing, they've asked the Interior Department to...

Toxin Plagues Brockovich Town, Again

Cancer-causing material spreads through wells

(Newser) - A toxic plume of chromium continues to trouble the California desert town that Erin Brockovich put on the map—and the pollution is getting worse, reports the AP . High levels of the material, which can cause cancer, have spread through wells near Hinkley. “Because of the widespread nature of...

12 Stories