“Such an attempt may result in mutilation of the body, which we fear is already decomposing,” one relative said.

The Civil Defense Department in Taif has also rejected the idea put forward by experts from Saudi Aramco. The woman’s family urged Civil Defense authorities to speed up efforts to recover the body in a safe and sound way, Al-Madinah Arabic daily reported.

Meanwhile, rescue efforts are under way on Monday after nine days of trying to recover the body of the 29-year-old woman, who got trapped in the 50-meter-deep well near the mountainous town of Shenaif, northeast of Taif.

Workers from an international company have continued to dig a deep well close by since Friday.

“On Sunday, the workers dug 25 meters down. They managed to break a hard rock that was in the way,” said Maj. Khaled Al-Qahtani, spokesman of Civil Defense in Taif, adding that digging works are expected to be completed today or tomorrow.

He said that divers would descend inside and recover the body once work is complete.

“They will then dig a trench from the bottom of the well to reach the bottom of the bore well, where the body of the woman is believed to be located,” he said.

All rescue efforts to recover the woman over the past week have ended in failure. This is mainly because the well, which is full of water, is too narrow. When initial attempts to manually lift the body out failed, the Civil Defense brought in advanced detection and rescue equipment. Attempts to determine the exact location of the woman with the help of a thermal camera also failed.

Taif resident’s hopes of rescuing the woman alive have almost faded and the tragedy has been a traumatic experience for them.

They have kept up to date with developments in their conversations and phone talks with friends and relatives.

Taif residents have also expressed anxiety over the presence of several abandoned bore wells in the region. They have started filling up some of them to avoid such tragedies in future.

The woman fell into the abandoned bore well near her house while she was strolling with relatives in the evening of January 2.