Authorities in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain district are racing against time as they attempt to rescue a three-year-old boy who fell into a borewell and is stuck at a depth of 45 feet for over 20 hours. After failing to reach the distressed child three times, the local administration has requested specialised equipment to dig a parallel hole through the rocks.
The incident took place in Jhalaria village of Badnagar tehsil in Ujjain district at around 7.30 pm on Thursday. The child, identified as Bhagirath Dewasi, had been playing near the 200-feet-deep borewell when he dislodged its cover using a stone out of curiosity. His mother, Jattu Bai, saw the child falling into the hole and raised an alarm, triggering panic in the village.
The local administration, including District Collector Roshan Kumar Singh and Superintendent of Police Pradeep Sharma, rushed to the site and mounted a rescue operation.
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) personnel were also called from Bhopal, Indore, Harda and Ujjain and pressed into the operation.
Rescuers have been pumping in oxygen through pipes to maintain ample ventilation for the three-year-old. They attempted twice to secure a rope ring around the child's hands and pull him out of the borewell - but failed.
They changed their strategy and began digging a parallel tunnel to reach the child from the side. Five heavy Poclain machines were deployed for the excavation. The excavators, however, were forced to stop the digging as the digging machines hit a layer of hard rock.
The authorities in Bhopal have now sent a hammer machine to dig through rocks.
Experts are also monitoring signs of life.
Bhagirath's father, Pusaram Dewasi, a resident of Rajasthan's Pali district, and his family had come to the Jhalaria village to graze their sheep.
