‘Killer’ borewells: Instances where children died, rescued from open pits

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However, this is not the first incident of its kind and in the past too cases of children falling in open wells have been recorded across India. There have been many incidents where children have died after falling in unused borewells while in some cases, children were saved too after hours of operations.

Here are some of the cases that grabbed national attention:

1) Fatehveer Singh: Two-year-old Fatehveer Singh fell into a 120-feet deep borewell in June 2019 while playing at Bhagwanpura village and despite rescue operations spanning 109 hours, he could not be saved.

A massive rescue operation was launched by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team and 200 other volunteers of Green Force of Dera Sacha Sauda to bring the child out safely. Officials managed to supply oxygen but no food or water could be provided to him.

Two-year-old Fatehveer Singh’s body being brought to Bhagwanpura village. (File)

Moments after the dead body of the child was brought to his village, people began protesting by blocking roads and blamed the administration for a failed operation. The borewell was used by Fateehveer’s family to irrigate the fields but was last used in 1999.

2) A similar incident took place in May 2019, where a four-year-old girl slipped into a 440-feet deep borewell in Jodhpur’s Melana village. Seema was stuck at a depth of 260-feet inside the borewell and and her body was pulled out after a 14-hour operation.

A tubewell at the farm had broken down and the father of the girl had taken the pump out for repairing, leaving the borewell open.

Nadeem was rescued after a 48-hour-long operation

3) A one-and-half-year old boy, Nadeem, fell into a ten-inch wide and 55-feet deep borewell in Balsamand village of Hisar district in March this year. The NDRF and the Army were pressed into service and the toddler was finally rescued after a 48-hour long operation.

Almost 40 JCB machines were pressed into service for digging a parallel pit and about 100 men from the Army and the NDRF participated in the operation apart from 150 policemen.

Prince after being rescued from the borewell in Kurushektra. (AP)

4) In June 2012, another incident in Kasan near Manesar hogged national limelight. Five-year-old Mahi fell to her death in a 60-foot abandoned borewell while playing with her friends. The girl could not be saved, despite a massive effort by Army and district administration official for five days.

A huge rock was a major hurdle that the rescuers had been struggling to break for three days. The slab was located in the horizontal tunnel between the borewell and the pit dug up to rescue the child.

5) The massive operation in 2006 to rescue five-year-old Prince Kumar Kashyap, who had fallen into a 55-feet deep borewell in a village in Kurukshetra, had garnered national spotlight.

Prince was pulled out safely nearly 48 hours later as the entire country watched with bated breath, hooked on to their TV screens. Over the next few weeks, Prince garnered celebrity status and he often made appearances at yagnas and events around villages in Kurukshetra district.