(CNN) — A simple pact among friends saved a man after he injured himself during a fall into a 100-foot mine shaft.

John Waddell, 62, had gone 48 hours without food or water when he was pulled early Thursday from a mine shaft on his property in western Arizona, authorities said.

He is a “very, very fortunate individual,” said Roger Yensen, commander of the volunteer Mountain Rescue Posse who extracted him.

‘Help, help!’

Waddell had made a deal with his neighbor, Terry Shrader, before he set off on Sunday: that Shrader would go looking for Waddell if he didn’t return by Tuesday, Shrader told CNN affiliate KNXV.

With his friend still not back home, Shrader set off Wednesday to find him.

“As I pulled out my truck I could hear him hollering, ‘Help, help!'” he told the station.

Shrader quickly alerted police about Waddell, who had broken several bones Monday in his fall, Sgt. Joaquin Enriquez of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office said.

Yensen said last week, Waddell erected a metal structure over the top of the hole, called a derrick, so he could lower himself down by rope and explore the 8-10 foot wide shaft.

On Monday, as Waddell was lowering himself down, he lost control and fell roughly 50 feet to the bottom, he told rescuers.

He lay on the rocky bottom with multiple leg fractures for two days, awaiting rescue.

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