This is the moment firefighters in central China rushed to rescue a toddler who had fallen into a 20-cm wide well in the dark.

Video filmed in the city of Pingdingshan in Henan Province on November 26 shows the two-year-old boy trapped inside a well and water up to the boy's nose.

Firefighters can be seen using fire hooks - poles with a hooked metal head - to grab onto the boy's hooded top and under his armpits. Then, three firefighters lift him up out of the five-meter-deep well.

After the boy was rescued, he was sent to hospital but is said not to be in a life-threatening condition.

According to the boy's mum, he fell into the well accidentally as he could not see it in the dark.

11月26日19时53分，平顶山市卫东区月台河小区有小孩不慎掉入路边施工井内，接到报警后，平顶山市消防救援指挥中心立即调派卫东消防救援大队前往处置。
到现场后，发现一名两岁男孩掉进路边机井，井内积水较深，并且有很多垃圾杂物，已被困约30分钟，天气寒冷且井内积水已到孩童口鼻处，被困儿童身穿棉衣，因棉衣进水慢慢变重，小孩也慢慢呈下沉阶段，情况万分紧急！

但现场井口直径仅约20厘米，井深约5米，没有下井操作营救条件，现场指挥员王大宇副中队长临机决定采用消防火勾勾住被困孩童帽子和腋下的方法实施营救，因幼童无法自主配合救援，救援人员首先使用一个火勾勾住被困孩童帽子，让其口鼻先脱离水面，保证孩童口鼻不被污水呛到，确保生命安全，另外两个火勾分别勾住被困孩童两边腋下，三名消防员同时用力，将被困孩童救出，周围围观群众赞声一片。

孩童救出后，立即送上救护车，消防人员一同赶往医院，经急救医生确诊，小孩已脱离生命危险。

据孩子母亲说，晚上她带孩子出去玩，儿子说不让抱，想下来跑着玩，但因天黑，未发现路边机井，才掉入井中。