Balangir: A woman jumped into a 30-foot well to save her son at Talpalipada here.

In the incident that took place on Friday evening, the woman, Champeswari Podh, and her three-year-old son had to spend nearly an hour in the well before the people living in the area and fire officials.

The boy suffered a minor injury on his head. His mother was not injured.

Sources said the incident took place when Champeswari was looking after her one-year-old daughter inside the house. Her son Satish, 3, was playing outside with his friends when he fell in the well.

The mother came out of the house after hearing an alarm raised by some neighbours. When she realised her son had fallen in the well, she did not waste a moment and jumped in. The villagers initially tried rescuing the mother and son from the well with the help of a rope. When that did not work, they informed the fire officials.

Champeswari said that she was not afraid when she jumped into the well.

"It was pitch dark inside the well and I got terrified because there was a snake there. I prayed to god for our lives clinging on to a railing in the wall of the well with my son in one arm," she said.

When the fire tender service arrived and started the rescue operation, Champeswari asked them to take her son out first. The firemen first rescued the boy from and later the brave woman climbed the ladder herself to come out of the well.

Villagers praised Champeswari for risking her life to save her son.

"She will remain an ideal for all mothers. She has shown what a child means to her mother," said Simantini Naik, a resident of Talpalipada.

Fire officer of Balangir fire station Shyam Sundar Singh was all praise for the brave mother.

"It really needs lot of courage to jump into a well. She has set an example for all mothers. When the fire tender arrived, she was inside the well with her son in arm. She asked us to rescue her son first. She deserves all the praise she is getting," Singh said.