Two-yr-old trapped in 45-ft borewell for 20 hrs

TRAPPED: Armmed personnel manning rescue operations say the child can be heard crying for help.

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New Delhi: On Tuesday evening, a two-year-old girl, fell in a 45-foot borewell at Tehra village in Agra.

Vandana fell inside the borewell, which had been left uncovered, while playing. Villagers complained to the administration and the authorities who started rescue operations on Tuesday night.

Civil authorities have sought the aid of the Army which is now helping in the rescue operations. They have succeeded sending in oxygen cylinders in the borewell and are now providing the girl with oxygen with the help of a tube.

Armed personnel manning the rescue say that the child is breathing and can be heard crying for help from inside the borewell.

The Commissioner of Agra, Sitaram Meena says, "She has fallen into a very narrow hole and is stuck at 45 feet. We did not have the expertise, so the Army was called in. The team has already dug more than 40 feet, but it may still take another two hours or so."

"We are trying to dig up to 56 feet in a parallel well. Then we will create a tunnel and through that we can rescue the girl. We are sending glucose, water and other eatables down to her. Her family members are talking to her all the time to keep her conscious. Oxygen cylinders are on stand by as is a medical team ready to assist her as soon as she is rescued," the District Magistrate of Agra, Mukesh Kumar Meshram added.

This is not the first instance of a child falling into an open pit, or a borewell left uncovered by careless authorities.

The first publicised case was that of a five-year-old boy, Prince, who fell into a 53 feet and 1.5 wide shaft in Shahbad, Haryana in July 2006.

He was rescued from the pit after over two days of continuous rescue operations by the Army.

Experts from the 65 Engineer Regiment of the Army’s Ambala-based 2 Corps supervised the rescue operation. The Indo-Tibetan Border Police, the civil and police administration helped the Army team along with experts from the fire service and air force.

Army personnel dug a 56-feet deep, 15-feet wide parallel tunnel from a dried up well alongside the shaft to rescue Prince after almost 50 hours.

A few months later, there were three more similar incidents in Madhya Pradesh.

PAST CASES
	On July 21, 2006 five-year-old Prince fell into a hole dug for irrigation purposes in Haryana. He was later rescued after a 50-hour ordeal.
	On March 11, 2007, a four-year-old girl, Arti died in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat after she fell into a 60-foot borewell.
	On May 22, 2007 a three-year-old boy, Sunil, fell into a 200-feet deep borewell in Ranapada village in Rajasthan.
	On July 27, 2007, a six-year-old boy died after falling in a borewell, 35 km from Jaipur.
	January 30, 2008, a six-year-old boy was rescued from a 40-ft deep borewell at Bhusanur in Karnataka.