7-year-old dies after being stuck in borewell for 7 hours

Nashik: A seven-year-old boy — who fell into an uncovered bore-well in Murshatpur village of Kopargaon tehsil, Ahmednagar, on Monday — was rescued after seven hours at 6.40pm. Unconscious when finally pulled out, the victim, Saieshwar Pramod Barhate, was immediately rushed to the hospital. However, he was declared dead by doctors, said senior police inspector Suresh Shinde, adding that the police would begin investigations.

Sources said that Saieshwar was playing along with his sisters in the field in the afternoon when he fell into the open bore-well which was at ground level and hidden by grass. His faint shouting alerted his sisters who raised an alarm and called the villagers, who immediately called the police. Efforts to rescue Saieshwar began in full swing but it was only later when an expert arrived that he advised digging the ground around the bore-well to a depth of 15 feet, where the boy was reportedly stuck.

Tehsildar Kishore Kadam said that the 6.6 inch casing pipe of the bore-well was only up to 15 feet while the rest of it was open.

The rescuers excavated till a depth of 15 feet and then a tunnel was dug. Saieshwar’s hand could be seen, and he was pulled out.

“He was unconscious and immediately rushed to the hospital. The rescue work was conducted by police, the fire brigade, revenue, government departments and villagers,” he said.

Oxygen was released into the bore-well during the time Saieshwar was stranded, and ambulances with doctors were kept on standby. The National Disaster Managemant team too arrived but by that time, Saieshwar had been pulled out.

Noted lawyer Fazal Sayyed said cases should be filed against owners of bore-wells, who neglect to properly cover the pipe or do not make suitable arrangements to avoid such accidents.

“Instead of holding bore-well owners responsible and extracting fines from them, the Government has to compensate the victim, though it is not an ‘act of God’,” said Mr Sayyed.