Gulf Today, Staff Reporter
In a tragic incident, an over 80-hour rescue operation went in vain after officials pulled out the body of the 2-year-old boy Sujith Wilson, who was trapped in an abandoned borewell in Tamil Nadu.
The incident happened in Tiruchirappalli district.
On Friday evening, Sujith fell into the borewell and got stuck at 30 feet. A rescue operation started after the news went to the ministry. Things got worse as the boy slipped further down to the well making the rescue operation challenging.
Tamil Nadu’s J. Radhakrishnan, Principal Secretary, Revenue Administration, Disaster Management and Mitigation department said medical experts said the child died as strong odour was coming out of the borewell.
The body was pulled out in bad condition. It was immediately sent for postmortem.
Rescue workers gather with heavy digging equipment during an operation to rescue a toddler stuck in a deep well in Tamil Nadu. AFP
The borewell and the hole drilled near it to rescue the boy will be closed soon.
The National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force took over the rescue operation as other techniques used to take the boy out of the borewell failed.
Heavy machinery was used to dig a pit near the borewell to rescue the boy.
The operation was stopped as the terrain was rocky.
Experts also said that this process could loosen soil inside and around the borewell, and the well may collapse.
Officials also used a 'borewell robot', but that too was not successful.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter and expressed his sympathies with the family. Rahul said, “I’m sorry to hear about the passing of baby Sujith. My condolences to his grieving parents and his family.”