A man claiming to be a kua mistry (a worker skilled in handling wells) on Saturday pulled out the body of a man who had fallen into a a 50ft-deep well in Bansdroni, after a failed rescue attempt by government agencies for more than 16 hours.

Samrat Sarkar, 30, had been trapped in the well, surrounded by a two-feet-high wall, in front of his house in Bansdroni’s Sonali Park since 3.30pm on Friday.

The rescue operation started on Friday evening but was called off around 10.30pm.

Meghnad Sarkar, 38, a resident of Sardarpara in Brahmapur, was among the crowd that had gathered around the well on Saturday morning to watch the rescue operation as it resumed after the night’s break.

Seeing firemen and members of the disaster management group struggle, Meghnad volunteered to help.

Within 15 minutes of entering the well, he found Samrat with his head stuck in a thick layer of mud and his legs jutting out, police said.

Meghnad, a self-taught kua mistry, tied Samrat’s legs with a rope and pulled up the body with a little help from members of the disaster management group who stood watching around the well.

“When he volunteered, we made him wear a mask and walk around for 10 minutes so that he would get used to it,” a disaster management group member said. “Once he was ready, we fitted him with a half-body harness and lowered him into the well.”

No one had seen Samrat falling into the well but his grandmother, with whom he lived, had said on Friday that a neighbour heard a splash soon after Samrat went to bathe at the well.

Samrat’s family members rued that had Meghnad been able to enter the well earlier, he could perhaps have been saved.

Many wondered why specially trained police personnel had failed. “Meghnad is lanky... he was successful with a bit of basic training,” the disaster management group official said.

The well gets narrower — from two-and-a-half feet at the top to 15 inches below, he said.

Impressed with Meghnad’s abilities, chief minister Mamata Banerjee has okayed a proposal to get him trained in disaster management after offering him a civic volunteer’s job.