A worker was saved Sunday afternoon, 80 hours after he was trapped in a steel shaft that sank 18 meters under the surface of seawaters in east China's Zhejiang Province, local authorities said.

Fan was rescued on Sunday afternoon [Xinhua Photo]

The 43-year-old man surnamed Fan was rushed to the No. 2 People's Hospital in Pinghu City immediately after he was rescued.

The man was stuck at 9 a.m. Thursday in the shaft where he was working at Jiaxing Harbor off China's eastern coast.

The shaft deformed seriously under sudden increase of hydraulic pressure from flood tide, but Fan survived without injuries.

When the accident happened and the shaft, about 1 meter in diameter, deformed like a beverage can, Fan was working at its bottom.

Rescuers said the upper part of the barrel was squeezed to only 3 cm wide at the narrowest part.

The barrel, part of an offshore operation platform, was connected to a cement column.

Rescuers spent more than 70 hours cleaning siltage from the equipment and cutting the cement column off the seabed before lifting the barrel out of the sea.

During the three days, food and water were supplied through a pipe. A psychiatrist was called in to provide counseling for Fan.

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