Warangal:
It was a Herculean effort that last 24 hours. But at the end of it, two-year-old Mahesh who accidentally fell into a borewell in Andhra Pradesh's Warangal district on Sunday evening, came out dead.
The borewell is hardly six and a half inches wide. And a simple precaution like putting a stone to cover this narrow borewell could have prevented the tragedy.
Mahesh's parents had dug a second borewell on their one acre farm two months ago, desperate to save the standing groundnut crop.
"We had stopped coming to the field but only because it rained, we came, hoping to salvage something. Right before my eyes, he fell in," said Mahesh's father Ravi.
"We must have some kind of mechanism, where such borewells are drilled. If they are functioning, they must be properly utilised. If they are defunct, they must be closed," said P Laxmaiah, Andhra Pradesh Irrigation Minister.
It was through the entire depth of 40 feet that two-year-old Mahesh fell to his death; without air or light, only a miracle could have saved him. That miracle did not happen. The authorities say a case of criminal negligence can be booked against the parents but that would be double tragedy.