Snag delays rescue of boy from Karnataka borewell

Massive efforts to rescue a six-year-old boy trapped in a deep borewell on the outskirts of a village in Karnataka's Bagalkot were so far unsuccessful, as a robot lowered into the hole developed a snag while a rock is blocking access to him, police said Monday.

"The rescue team has suspended the robot operation due to a technical snag and pulled out the CCTV camera as a hard rock blocked the view of the boy (Thimanna) in the narrow well where he is stuck at about 160 feet depth," Inspector General of Police (northern range) Bhaskar Rao told reporters at the spot.

Thimanna Sunday afternoon fell into the abandoned borewell while playing with his friends Sunday afternoon in his father Hanumatha Hatti's sugarcane field of at Sulikeri in Badami taluk, about 30km from Bagalkot town and 550km northwest of Bangalore, said officials.

According to the victim's friends, however, Thimanna went to the spot to show his cousin where the borewell was dug and how deep it was but plunged into it as it was not fenced and soil around it was slippery.

Efforts were on at a war-footing

"Another rescue team has been digging a massive pit parallel to the borewell since late Sunday using five earth-moving machines to excavate the soil and reach Thimanna through an L shaped passage at the earliest," Rao said.

About 10 tippers have been deployed to remove the soil dug out near the spot.

Though inclement weather and intermittent rains have been hampering the rescue operation, oxygen is being supplied constantly through a pipe to enable Thimanna breathe and keep him alive, as the remote camera showed him move two fingers late Sunday.

The rescue team consists of a dozen members from the National Disaster Rescue Force and 10 experts from the state-run Hutti Gold Mines in the neighbouring Raichur district.

A well-equipped ambulance has been kept ready at the pot for emergency treatment and rush Thimanna to the state-run district hospital here once he is extricated.

Meanwhile, special prayers were held at Thimanna's school in the village and in temples, mosques and churches at many places, including Bagalkot, Bangalore, Chikaballapur, Davangere, Madikeri and Mandya across the state for his safe rescue.

As hundreds of people from the surrounding villages and towns have been flocking to the village to watch the rescue operation, police deployed a large contingent to cordon off the area and maintain vigil at the spot.