Days after falling in a 150-ft borewell, the two-year-old boy was declared dead after being rescued on Tuesday (June 11) morning in Punjab's Sangrur district.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and police officials jointly rescued the toddler, identified as Fatehvir Singh, at 5.12 am today. The toddler accidentally fell into the abandoned well that was covered with a cloth in a field at Bhagawanpura village while he was playing.
A parallel borewell has been dug by installing reinforced cement concrete (RCC) pipes of nearly 36 inches in diameter to rescue the kid. The rescuers were almost close to reaching the child on Sunday when they confronted with some technical problems. They are now digging horizontally at a depth of 120 feet, where they suspect the child to be stuck.
No food or water could be provided to the child as he went unconscious after he fell into the borewell. However, he was being supplied with oxygen, said the officials.
The Public Works Department (PWD) minister of Punjab Vijay Inder Singla said that the NDRF along with the district authorities, villagers and volunteers are doing their best to get the kid out of the borewell.
He claimed that the rescue teams tried all methods to get the boy, but eventually chose to dig manually as it was the only way to get Fatehvir. "The digging is being carried out by locals. It is a slow process," said Singla, adding that Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has called him up multiple times to get updates about the rescue operations, reports Hindustan Times.
Some of the villagers also criticised the district administration, blaming it for alleged "delay" in bringing out Fatehvir from the abandoned borewell. "More than 90 hours have passed and district administration has failed to retrieve the child stuck in the borewell," said a local villager. Sensing anger of villagers, the grandfather of Fatehvir urged people to be patient, reports NDTV.
The leader of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Parminder Singh Dhindsa, who visited the site alleged that the NDRF lacked the required equipment needed for the rescue operations of the kid.
