6-Yr-Old Boy Falls in 50-Feet-Deep Borewell in MP; Rescuers Concerned as Child 'Not Visible Through Cam'

A six-year-old boy fell into a 50-feet deep open borewell while playing in an agricultural field in Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa district.

According to a report in Times of India, the rescuers are working frantically to reach Mayank Kol who, they believe, is trapped at a depth of around 50 feet. Rescuers said that a lot of soil also got into the borewell after he fell.

A parallel tunnel has been dug to a depth of around 30 feet by around 10pm. Oxygen is being pumped into the borewell, the report stated.

“The borewell in which the boy is trapped is 6 cm in diameter. The locals informed the police, after which the rescue team reached the spot and launched an operation to bring him out,” Rewa’s additional superintendent of police Anil Sonkar was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

He added that two earth-movers have been pressed into service as part of the ongoing rescue work. TOI, however, stated that five JCB machines and other equipment were on the spot to dig a parallel tunnel and rescue Mayank.

Thankfully, the diggers haven’t hit any stones so far but evening rain hindered the rescue effort for some time and heightened concern, the publication stated.

The report quoted Rewa collector Pratibha Pal as saying, “A camera was lowered to a depth of around 40 feet into the borewell but the child couldn’t be seen. He may have been covered in the soil that fell after him. He is at a depth between 50 feet and 60 feet.

According to TOI, Mayank lives in Manika village, right next to the Uttar Pradesh border, and around 630km from Bhopal. He had gone to the fields with some friends on Friday afternoon. They were playing when he fell into the open borewell around 5pm.

“A rescue team from Varanasi will also reach the spot shortly. We are trying to identify the exact location of the boy. We are hopeful that he will be rescued very soon,” Sonkar was quoted by ANI.

According to TOI, last year, four kids, aged 2.5 years to 5 years, died in such tragedies in Alirajpur, Rajgarh, Vidisha and Sehore districts. Two of those incidents happened in December, prompting the government to promise to close all open borewells.