An 84-year-old man escaped with only minor injuries after he spent four days trapped in a well shaft on his remote property on Canada's Pacific Coast, police said.

A search dog located Bob Bennett on Wednesday after a friend of the elderly man became concerned that he had not heard from him in several days.

Bennett, who lives alone at a former mine site at Benson Lake, British Columbia, on northern Vancouver Island, had entered the eight-foot (2.4 meter) deep well shaft while searching for a water source and got trapped, Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

Mr Bennett, at 84 years old, shows age means nothing when you have the will to survive, said RCMP Corporal Michelle LeBrun.