Trapped horse hoisted from 15-foot-deep well in Washington

March 3 (UPI) -- Rescue crews responded to a farm in Washington to rescue a 2,000-pound horse that fell into a 15-foot-deep concrete well.

Karl Lang, owner of the farm in the Oak Harbor area, said his daughter went out to feed the family's five horses Wednesday morning and found one of the animals, an equine named Blaze, was missing.

The family soon discovered Blaze had broken through a barrier and fallen down the well.

Crews from North Whidbey Fire & Rescue, Central Whidbey Fire & Rescue and the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station responded to the property to plan a rescue.

Personnel from the naval air station climbed into the well to sedate the horse, and the animal was then fitted with a harness to be hoisted to safety.

Blaze was returned to solid ground and found to have incurred only minor injuries to his legs. Lang said the horse was fortunate that he had fallen tail-first into the well.

"If he had gone down any other way he wouldn't be alive," Lang told KING-TV. "Luckily he went down heinie-first."