Rescue operations continues on second day to pull out two-year-old boy from borewell
A massive, round-the-clock rescue operation was underway Friday to safely pull out a two-year-old boy who fell into an over 150-foot-deep borewell near his house in Punjab's Sangrur district, officials said.
Fatehvir Singh, who would turn three next week, fell into the unused borewell in a field while he was playing near his house at around 4 pm Thursday, district officials said.
The rescuers have been engaged in a "difficult" operation to bring out the trapped child, they said, adding that the operation was expected to go on through the night.
"The rescue operation is still going on. We cannot give any exact time when the rescuers will be able to reach the child. All those who are involved in this operation are making their best effort to bring out the child safely," Sangrur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sandeep Garg told PTI.
He said the rescuers have seen the child moving on the bed of the well. "The last time his movements were noticed were on Friday afternoon," Garg said.
Many people were offering prayers close to the rescue site, praying for the child's safety.
On Friday, rescuers comprising Army experts, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team, who were assisted by the police and civil authorities, were involved in digging a parallel well to reach the child, a police official present at the spot, said earlier in the day.
The borewell was covered with a cloth and the boy accidentally stepped on it while playing. His mother tried to rescue him, but failed.
Oxygen was being supplied to the child who appears to be stuck 125-foot-deep into the borewell, the officials said.
Heavy earthmoving machines and tractors have also been pressed into service for digging and to bring out the boy safely.
The incident has again brought to the fore the dangers posed by uncovered borewells, which have turned into death traps for children.
In March, an 18-month-old boy was rescued from a borewell in Haryana's Hisar district, two days after he had fallen into it.
In 2006, a massive operation was launched to rescue five-year-old Prince, who had fallen into a borewell in a village in Kurukshetra. He was pulled out safely nearly 48 hours later.
