A two-year-old boy, who was stuck in a 150-feet deep borewell in Punjab for nearly 109 hours, has been declared dead after he was pulled out of the borewell Tuesday (June 11) morning.
Fatehveer Singh fell into an unused borewell in Bhagwanpura village of Sangrur district last Thursday at around 4 pm when he was playing near his house.
The seven-inch-wide borewell was covered with a cloth and the child accidentally stepped on it. His mother tried to rescue him but failed, officials said.
After a five-day rescue effort, Fatehveer was pulled out at about 5:30 am this morning by the National Disaster Response Force and then taken to PGI Chandigarh for treatment. He was declared brought dead at the hospital.
The state had a chopper on standby near the site, but the child was taken to a hospital about 140 km from the village by road.
The child was stuck in the borewell at a depth of 125 feet. Officials had to dig a parallel borewell of 36 inches to pull the child out.
No food or water could be provided to the child but the officials managed to supply oxygen.
An update has not been shared so far about the child’s health condition.
Last evening, amid protests by locals over rescue of the child, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh tweeted that he was “constantly monitoring the rescue operations” by the NDRF, local administration and outside experts.
He also said that he had directed all the deputy commissioners in the states “to ensure that no such open borewell exists in any of the districts & have asked them to submit a report within 24 hours”.
Have directed all DCs to ensure that no such open borewell exists in any of the districts & have asked them to submit a report within 24 hours.
You can call on our helpline number 0172-2740397 if you have information about any such open borewells in your area.
The chief minister was also attacked by opposition parties over delay in the rescue. Sangrur MP and AAP’s Punjab unit chief Bhagwant Mann, who had also visited the site, had accused the Amarinder Singh-government of “inordinate delay” in the rescue operation in a statement.
