It was a simple 100-watt light bulb that provided much-needed heat to a newborn girl who was found stuck inside a cold borewell in Odisha, before she was rescued safely in an over five-hour-long operation on a winter night.
Besides, the child who has no claimant fell on a stuck pet bottle thrown inside the borewell by someone and it acted as a cushion, saving her from a hit by the inside wall of the borewell or the floor which was strewn with broken glass bottles, officials said on Wednesday.
The child is now admitted to a Veer Surendra Sai Medical College and Hospital in Sambalpur town 60 km away from Bhubaneswar, where she was taken in a green corridor after her rescue from the 20-foot abandoned borewell at Laripali village in Rengali area on Tuesday night.
"The baby is doing fine. There are a few minor bruises on her body. She was suffering from hypothermia (a condition that occurs when the body loses heat fast, causing a dangerously low body temperature)," said Dr Subham Singha, a paediatrician attached to the hospital.
The hospital formed a team for the treatment of the baby.
Cries of a child from inside the borewell, actually a pipe made of iron, attracted the attention of villagers in the evening and they informed the police. That initiated a chain of coordinated efforts involving various agencies leading to the rescue of the child.
The temperature near the village on Tuesday evening was around 12 degrees Celsius and the child, when brought out, had no clothes on.
"Oxygen was being supplied into the borewell. The baby had stopped crying for some time. Its cries were heard again after a 100-watt electric bulb was lowered into the borewell for light as well to keep the baby warm," said Singha, who was also a part of the rescue team.
The light bulb functioned as an infant warmer, a key equipment in neonatal intensive care units used for providing newborns with a comfortable thermal area.
Director general, fire service, Dr Sudhansu Sarangi, said that a victim location camera has been lowered into the borewell to trace the location of the baby. It was sent by the state government from Bhubaneswar to Jharsuguda airport on a special flight.
Sarangi also thanked the baby as its almost non-stop cries encouraged the rescuers to get near her as quickly as possible, though it was not an easy task.
"A lot of precaution was needed to cut the iron pipe. We could not use a gas cutter as it would generate heat which may not be tolerable to the baby. I thank all for rescuing the infant," Sarangi said.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also thanked everyone involved in the operation.
"I wish a long life for the baby. May God bless her. Jai Jagannath," he said in a statement.
It was not clear how the child got into the 20-foot deep borewell made of iron. Locals suspect that the infant might have been dumped there by someone.
Meanwhile, a police team visited Laripali village and started an inquiry into the child's background, an official said.
"The villagers were asked to inform the police if they knew anything about the child. Several villagers said they had seen a woman coming out of the jungle alone. She was not from Laripali," the official said.
The borewell was near a forest.
