The incident

On Saturday, 25 July, around 13:00, a 67-year-old woman fell into a well in Frydrychowice, a village in Wadowice county, Małopolska. The well, located on private grounds, was described by the fire service as extremely narrow, with dimensions of approximately 60 by 40 centimetres. The alert reached emergency services at 13:06. The exact circumstances of the fall remain unknown; it has not been established whether the woman was performing any household tasks near the well at the time.

Rescue and resuscitation

Before fire engines and an ambulance arrived, relatives managed to pull the woman out of the well. Captain Hubert Ciepły, spokesman for the Małopolska Provincial Commander of the State Fire Service, confirmed the prompt family response, which gave medics a chance to act immediately.

“Poszkodowaną zdołali wydobyć członkowie rodziny.”

Once on site, firefighters and a Medical Rescue Team began cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The effort was sustained and involved more than 20 firefighters from both the State Fire Service and Volunteer Fire Service, alongside paramedics. Despite their attempts, the doctor on the scene pronounced the woman dead.

“Niestety, pomimo podjętych działań stwierdzono zgon kobiety.”

Investigation underway

After the resuscitation was discontinued, the site was secured and handed over to the police. Investigators are now working under the supervision of a public prosecutor to determine why the woman fell into the well. No preliminary findings have been released. The police have declined to comment further while the inquiry continues.

The tragedy occurred in a small, rural locality where such accidents are rare but pose exceptional rescue challenges due to confined spaces. Local fire crews routinely train for well and shaft incidents, but the victim’s narrow entrapment and the rapidity of the fall left little room for survival once immersion occurred.