Woman stuck down well for seven days in Saudi:

The 29-year-old woman fell down the 50-metre well during an outing with relatives near the mountainous town of Shenaif, northeast of Taif, according to the newspaper.

Arab News said civil defence has been working round the clock to try and rescue the woman, who is married with one child. The newspaper did not give her name, but identified her husband as Salman al-Otaibi.

Rescuers initially tried to manually lift the woman out, but when this failed they bought in “advanced detection and rescue devices”, according to the newspaper, which said efforts were hampered because the well is full of water.

A contractor was brought in to drill another well parallel to the existing one, but was forced to stop due to a large rock that has obstructed the digger’s path, Arab News reported, citing a source.

The source said it could take a further two days before the second well is finished, according to the newspaper.