14-month-old boy declared brought dead after falling into borewell in MP

A 14-month-old boy, who got trapped after accidentally falling into a 100-feet deep borewell in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh, was declared brought dead after a 36-hour-long attempted rescue operation.

The boy fell into the borewell on Wednesday at 8.50 p.m. The borewell had been left open.

The police identified the child as Krishna, who was the only child of his parents. He was left alone near the borewell while her aunt went to the adjacent farmland to fetch vegetables. The woman heard her nephew crying in the pit dug for the borewell. She informed other family members and villagers who in turn informed the police.

"We couldn't save the child. It was very late by the time he was rescued. We tried our best. The rescue operation was on for about 36 hours. The borewell was full of stones. It took time to break the stones manually. It would have caused harm to the child if we didn't do it manually. It's unfortunate that the child couldn't be saved," said Sub-Divisional Police Officer Deepali Jain.

Four JCB machines were also pressed into service to rescue the child. A team of doctors was also rushed to the spot to help provide oxygen to the child through a pipe, said police. A parallel large hole was dug, but it was found that the path towards the borewell was full of stones severely affecting the rescue operations.

"It was late by the time the child was taken out of the borewell. The child suffered respiratory problems. It is natural that the child's condition got worse with time. When he was taken to here, we found no injury signs on him. He was then referred to another hospital. The child died inside the borewell," said R.K. Verma, child specialist of district hospital.