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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Will Stewart & Liam Buckler

Mushroom picker miraculously pulled out alive 4 days after falling into 24ft hole

A mushroom picker was miraculously pulled out alive - four days after falling in 24ft-deep hole in a remote forest.

Sergei Khmelevsky, 37, injured his leg when he fell into a giant disused underground oil store in eastern Russia.

The mushroom picker had no food but remarkably survived by drinking water from a puddle as he shouted and banged for help.

His mobile phone had no signal but he used its torch to guide rescuers who found him in the dark hole near the village of Knevichi in Primorsky region.

Rescuers lowered a strap with a makeshift harness and pulled him out.

A search involving volunteers had been underway for four days, since he went missing, but rescuers had not been sure about his location.

Sergei Khmelevsky was miraculously rescued after being stuck in a 24ft hole in a forest for four days (Sergei Khmelevsky/east2west news)
The Ussuriysk rescue team said the man was deaf and could not hear if anyone was in the vicinity (Kristina Vulfert/east2west news)

There are many such holes and open wells in the area, some covered by grass or foliage.

“It doesn't happen every day that we find a missing person alive on the fourth day of the search,” said a rescuer.

Volunteer searchers said the man, from Ussuriysk, was deaf and could not hear if anyone was in the vicinity.

He had shouted and banged to alert potential saviours, they said.

A video shows the rescue as the man is hauled out of the well.

Later he showed his mobile phone’s torch which he used to guide rescuers to find him and he was seen overcome with emotion at his rescue.

He also posed for a picture with the volunteer searchers who found him.

The forest where he was lost is home to brown and black bears as well as endangered Amur tigers.

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