Man Rescued After Being Stuck in Well for at Least 24 Hours in Palmdale

Riders on horseback heard the man crying for help and alerted authorities

By Melissa Pamer and Paul Gonzales

| Sunday, Aug 19, 2012 | Updated 12:17 AM PDT

Hilary Frommer

A man was rescued from a well on the edge of Palmdale Saturday after being stuck there for more than 24 hours, authorities said.

A man who had had been stuck in a well for at least 24 hours was the subject of a rescue effort in Palmdale Saturday night, authorities said.

He was believed to have been in the well for at least a day, a Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman said when crews were en route to the rescue.

The man was walking in the middle of a field far from homes when he dropped something down the well. In trying to get the object out of the well, he fell in and was unable to get back out, authorities on scene said.

He was about 8 feet below the ground's surface, near the intersection of East Q Avenue and 90th Street East on the remote eastern edge of Palmdale (map).

People riding by on horseback heard him crying for help, authorities said.

Rescuers tried to pull him out by his arms, but he was in too much pain, so they said they had to break apart the concrete around the narrow well to enlarge the opening to get to him, according to a witness at the scene.

The rescue was completed about 9 p.m.

Initially, the man was reported by authorities to have been stuck in a manhole.