3-year-old falls into borewell in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain, dies despite multi-agency rescue effort
The child fell into an open borewell in Jhalariya village under Badnagar tehsil Thursday evening, triggering alarm. What followed was a high-pressure rescue effort mounted through the night.
A three-year-old boy who fell into a borewell in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain district died after an intense, multi-agency rescue operation that stretched for hours and drew in specialised teams and heavy machinery, officials said Friday.
The child, identified as Bhagirath Dewasi, had fallen into an open borewell in Jhalariya village under Badnagar tehsil Thursday evening. According to officials, he slipped into the narrow shaft after dislodging its cover while playing nearby, triggering panic as his mother raised an alarm.
What followed was a high-pressure rescue effort mounted through the night. District authorities, including the Collector and Superintendent of Police, reached the site within hours, while teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Emergency Response Force (SDERF) were mobilised from multiple locations, including Bhopal, Indore and nearby districts.
Rescuers initially attempted to pull the child out using a rope mechanism lowered into the borewell. The operation was carried out in cramped, low-visibility conditions, with personnel relying on camera feeds and verbal cues. Despite repeated attempts, the rope could not be secured around the child.
To keep him alive, oxygen was continuously supplied through pipes inserted into the borewell. Officials monitoring the operation said maintaining airflow was critical given the depth and narrow diameter of the shaft, where the child was trapped nearly 45 feet below the surface.
As hours passed and initial efforts failed, the strategy shifted to digging a parallel tunnel to reach the child from the side. Five heavy excavation machines were deployed to dig through the earth, but the operation soon ran into a major obstacle — a thick layer of hard rock that slowed progress significantly.
Authorities then requisitioned specialised drilling equipment, including a hammer machine, to break through the rocky layer. Even as excavation continued, experts at the site were closely monitoring for signs of life.
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Behind the scenes, officials described the operation as “a race against time, complicated by terrain challenges and the technical difficulty of accessing a child trapped in a deep, narrow borewell without causing further collapse”.
Ujjain Collector Roshan Kumar Singh said the child was rescued and rushed to a civil hospital in an ambulance for medical examination immediately after being pulled out of the borewell.
However, the child was found dead during examination. “Despite sustained efforts through the night and into the next day, the rescue ended in tragedy. Bhagirath could not be revived after being brought out,” said a senior government official.
Chief Minister Mohan Yadav termed the incident “deeply distressing” and said all available resources had been deployed in the rescue attempt. He announced financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh for the bereaved family and expressed condolences, praying for strength for the child’s parents to bear the loss.
Anand Mohan J is an award-winning Senior Correspondent for The Indian Express, currently leading the bureau’s coverage of Madhya Pradesh. With a career spanning over eight years, he has established himself as a trusted voice at the intersection of law, internal security, and public policy.
Based in Bhopal, Anand is widely recognized for his authoritative reporting on Maoist insurgency in Central India. In late 2025, he provided exclusive, ground-level coverage of the historic surrender of the final Maoist cadres in Madhya Pradesh, detailing the backchannel negotiations and the "vacuum of command" that led to the state being declared Maoist-free.
Expertise and Reporting Beats
Anand’s investigative work is characterized by a "Journalism of Courage" approach, holding institutions accountable through deep-dive analysis of several key sectors:
National Security & Counter-Insurgency: He is a primary chronicler of the decline of Naxalism in the Central Indian corridor, documenting the tactical shifts of security forces and the rehabilitation of surrendered cadres.
Judiciary & Legal Accountability: Drawing on over four years of experience covering Delhi’s trial courts and the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Anand deconstructs complex legal rulings. He has exposed critical institutional lapses, including custodial safety violations and the misuse of the National Security Act (NSA).
Wildlife Conservation (Project Cheetah): Anand is a leading reporter on Project Cheetah at Kuno National Park. He has provided extensive coverage of the biological and administrative hurdles of rewilding Namibian and South African cheetahs, as well as high-profile cases of wildlife trafficking.
Public Health & Social Safety: His recent investigative work has uncovered systemic negligence in public services, such as contaminated blood transfusions causing HIV infections in thalassemia patients and the human cost of the fertilizer crisis affecting rural farmers.
Professional Background
Tenure: Joined The Indian Express in 2017.
Locations: Transitioned from the high-pressure Delhi City beat (covering courts, police, and labor issues) to his current role as a regional lead in Madhya Pradesh.
Notable Investigations: * Exposed the "digital arrest" scams targeting entrepreneurs.
Investigated the Bandhavgarh elephant deaths and the impact of kodo millet fungus on local wildlife.
Documented the transition of power and welfare schemes (like Ladli Behna) in Madhya Pradesh governance.
Digital & Professional Presence
Author Profile: Anand Mohan J at Indian Express
Twitter handle: @mohanreports ... Read More
