Operation on to pull out boy from borewell, fate unknown

Hopes of rescuing a six-year old boy trapped in an abandoned borewell at a farm in nearby Sulikeri village faded on the fifth day of the rescue operation today with a health official expressing doubts about the chances of his being alive.
In a massive operation involving 32 rescuers and a huge number of labourers, excavators and tippers, efforts continued to pull out Thimmanna Hatti who fell into the borewell in his father's farm on Sunday and is reported to be stuck at about 160 feet below.
Nearly 100 feet of earth had been dug for pit-cum-tunnel in L shape to reach Thimmanna who is trapped in the 300-feet borewell covered mostly with mud, district officials said.

Considering the foul smell emanating from the borewell, it appears that the boy might not be alive, Bagalkot District Health Officer B D Kittura said.
Officials had requisitioned the services of Manikanthan from Madurai to use the robot devised by him to pull out Thimmanna but he said he can make his next attempt only if the mud covering the boy was cleared. His and another robot experts' attempts have not yielded results so far.
District officials said the operation, which was hampered by rains for some time today, would continue.
Facing a tragic dilemma, the boy's father Hanumantha Hatti had pleaded on Tuesday that the operation be stopped to save his land, saying "I won't get back my son alive after all this that is being done.