The high temperature inside the borewell, according to doctors, led to hypothermia which made it difficult for the child.
Devi, a four-year-old girl, who was rescued from a 300-feet-deep borewell in Tamil Nadu's Tiruvanamalai district after a nine-hour battle on Saturday, died in hospital.
The four-year-old's mother, a farm labourer, had taken her along for work at Pazhavambadi village where Devi stepped on a gunny bag that covered the abandoned unfilled borewell around 6:45 am on Saturday. The child remained trapped at around 25 foot deep. Around 30 members including fire and rescue officials and police swung into action using five excavator vehicles and three fire tenders.
Officials told NDTV that a bore was dug close to the tube well. Oxygen was supplied to the child through a tube. But the high temperature inside the borewell, according to doctors, led to hypothermia which made it difficult for the child.
An arm-like device was used to bring the child out. "It was a huge challenge," said L Mutharasi, the Superintendent of Police of Tiruvannamalai. She added "we would soon arrest the land owner".
A decade ago the Tamil Nadu government had launched a drive to regulate sinking of borewells and to fill up abandoned tube wells following a series of similar tragedies in borewells. Many say the state government has to tighten monitoring. At least three children have died in similar incidents across Tamil Nadu in the last one year.