A rescue operation with the help of JCB machines is underway to pull out a two-and-a-half-year-old girl who has been trapped in a 300-foot deep borewell for the last 12 hours at Mugavali village in Madhya Pradesh's Sehore district. An official has said the child has slipper deeper into the borewell by another 50 feet and that oxygent is being provided. "The girl child has slid down further than 50 feet, we are providing oxygen to her. We are facing difficulties in drilling due to hard rock," he said. "We are making all possible efforts to pull the child out. A trench is being dug on the side (of the borewell). Since it has been more than 12 hours, movement (of the child) is not clearly visible from here," says Ashish Tiwari, Sehore Panchayat official.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, hailing from Sehore district, has acknowledged the incident and issued directives to ensure the safe rescue of the girl, with officials from the Chief Minister's Office maintaining contact with district authorities to oversee the situation.
The NDRF rescue team and local administrative authorities were quick to reach the spot upon being informed about the incident by villagers.
This incident is similar to the tragic incident that occurred in Gujarat's Jamnagar district, where a two-year-old toddler died after falling into a nearly 200-foot-deep borewell, as per reports. The child belonged to a tribal family who worked as farm labourers in Tamachan village, about 40 kilometres from Jamnagar. At around 9:30 am on Saturday, the young girl became lodged at a depth of 20 feet within the borewell while playing.
To save the child, a herculean joint operation involving the Army, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and local fire personnel was quickly launched. She was extricated at approximately 5:45 am on Sunday, after 19 long hours of intense efforts. Sadly, Jamnagar taluka development officer N A Sarvaiya confirmed that she was found dead.
These incidents serve as painful reminders of the potential hazards associated with open borewells and highlight the critical need for stringent safety measures to prevent similar tragedies in the future. Several such incidents resulted in severe injuries and deaths before.