2-year-old falls into 150-foot-deep borewell in Punjab, rescue operation underway

A two-year-old boy fell into an over 150-foot-deep borewell in a field near his house in Punjab's Sangrur district Thursday, officials said. Fatehvir Singh fell into the unused borewell while he was playing near his house at around 4 pm, district administration officials said. The borewell was covered with a cloth and the boy accidentally stepped on it while playing. His mother tried to rescue him, but failed, they said.

A National Disaster Response Force team has launched an operation to rescue the child, the officials said. Oxygen is being supplied to the child who appears to be stuck 125-foot-deep into the borewell, they said.

JCB machines and tractors have also been pressed into service for digging and to bring out Fatehvir safely, they addedLighting arrangements were made by villagers as the rescue operation continued late in the evening.

In a similar incident last month, rescue workers pulled out body of the four-year-old girl, who had slipped into a 440-feet deep borewell at a farm in Melana village of Jodhpur, officials said. Seema fell into the borewell at 5:30 pm on Monday and was stuck at a depth of 260-feet. The body was pulled out after a 14-hour operation and handed over to family members.

“Despite all efforts we could not take out the girl alive. Her body was taken out at about 7.30 am,” Additional District Magistrate Mahipal Bhardwaj said.

He said compensation of Rs. 1 lakh from the chief minister’s relief fund has been given to the parents of the girl. Initially, rescue teams could hear the cries of the girl but around midnight it stopped. Oxygen was being supplied through a pipe.

After the rescue teams and officials came to the conclusion that the girl was no more, a rope with a tool attached to it was dropped in the borewell and the body pulled out. A tubewell at the farm had broken down on Monday afternoon and the father of the girl had taken the pump out for repairing, leaving the borewell open.