Toddler rescued from borewell after 110-hr-long operation dies

A two-year-old child, who had fallen into a 150-foot-deep unused borewell here while playing and was rescued after almost 110 hours’ operation, died on Tuesday.

After being rescued, the child, Fatehvir Singh, was rushed to a hospital in an ambulance amid police security.

“Fatehvir has been pulled out of the borewell and he is being taken to hospital in an ambulance,” Sagrur Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori had told the media.

The child was rescued around 5:30 am by National Disaster Response Force personnel, officials said. A team of doctors was stationed at the site of the accident to provide medical assistance to Fatehvir. An ambulance equipped with a ventilator was been stationed there.

The child may be taken to either Patiala hospital or PGIMER in Chandigarh, Thori had said.

The toddler was stuck in the seven-inch wide borewell at a depth of 125 feet. The only child of his parents who had turned two on Monday, he fell into the borewell in a field when he was playing in Bhagwanpura village around 4 pm on Thursday.

The borewell was covered with a cloth and the boy accidentally stepped on it. His mother tried to rescue him, but failed, officials said.

A massive rescue operation was launched to bring the child safely out of the borewell. Officials managed to supply oxygen but no food or water could be provided to him.

A parallel borewell of 36 inches in diameter was dug to rescue the child.

On Monday, there was anger among people against the district administration and the state government over the delay in rescuing Fatehvir. A large number of people had assembled around the accident site and several of them raised slogans against the government.

Villagers had also held protest and blocked the Sunam-Mansa road.