Rajasthan: Boy pulled out of borewell declared dead

In a tragic culmination of a 50-hour ordeal, a six-year-old boy, who fell into a borewell while playing at a village 35 km from Jaipur, was pulled out on Friday night, but was later declared dead.

Amidst heavy rains, rescuers from the army and civil administration pulled out the boy Suraj Banzara from inside a 13-feet piece of rusted iron pipe of eight inch diameter where he had remained stuck ever since falling into the borewell in Nimeeda village on Wednesday afternoon.

Suraj, son of a daily wage labourer, was taken to the emergency section of Swainman Singh Hospital in Jaipur where a team of doctors led by Dr Suresh Saigal tried for 15 to 20 minutes to revive him but in vain.

Dr Saigal declared Suraj dead. Saigal said doctors used cardio pulmonary resuscitation for 15 to 20 minutes without any response and he was declared dead.

Suraj was brought out of the pipe, which had to be cut open with gas cutters, wrapped in a piece of white cloth and was taken to a waiting ambulance which took him to the hospital in Jaipur.

The worst was feared when he was brought out of the pipe as all signs of life appeared to have gone out of Suraj with his stiff body showing no movement.

Rescue operations were launched on Wednesday afternoon by digging a hole parallel to the borewell in order to pull out the borewell pipe measuring 93 feet.

The entire borewell pipe was sliced into five pieces and Suraj was found stuck in the last last 13-feet portion.

The boy was supplied oxygen through a hole dug parallel to the borewell and his movement was monitored by a close-circuit camera.

In a change of strategy for the rescue operation, army and civil adminstration on Friday took a different approach and dug a parallel boring to facilitate movement of the main borewell pipe in which the boy had been lying for the last three days.

As the pipe showed vertical movement, the exact location of the boy was measured at 93 feet.

Soon, the cranes were pressed into action to lift the pipe in pieces.

When the pipe was being taken out, oxygen supply to the boy was removed and the camera detached.

As the rescue operation went on, residents of Nimeeda village prayed and conducted a special havan for the well being of Suraj.