TIRUCHY: Despite rescue operations lasting more than 24 hours, Sujith Wilson, the two-year-old boy who tragically fell into a borewell in Nadkukkatupatti village near Manapparai, remains trapped. Even the National Disaster Relief Force has been unable to bring him to safety.
A playful time with cousins led to the disaster that saw Britto Arogiyaraj's younger son slip and fall into a borewell dug seven years ago. While Sujith first fell 18 feet down, he later slipped to a depth of 70 feet, according to rescue officials.
Over 25 hours, fire and rescue officials along with several experts were pressed into action.
"We had teams coming from Tiruchy, Madurai, Namakkal and Coimbatore. Everyone came with their own type of equipment. While most of them used the method of catch and pull, it failed to reap benefits due to slippages," said a police officer engaged in the operation.
The boy, who was responding during the night, stopped responding early on Saturday morning.
"From 5 am we have not heard any noise from the borewell and one inch of mud has fallen over the boy. We are continuously providing oxygen and making all efforts to rescue him," Health Minister C Vijayabaskar said. "We were able to tie ropes around his hand thrice. But all the three times we were unable to pull him out as the knot loosened due to his gentle hands and humid conditions inside the borewell," he added.
With the experts failing to retrieve the baby, two special teams, a team of National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) and team of State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF) were deployed on Saturday evening. However, despite the sophisticated equipment at their command, they were unable to rescue the child.
"With the mud covering his body, the hands shifted to a perpendicular position. If it was bent like before, we could have easily tied a knot, but it is extremely difficult to tie knots when the hands are straight," said one NDRF official.
The NDRF officials also set up their own mini-satellites to co-ordinate the operations inside the borewell. Sadly, their efforts failed and all they managed were to tie the rope around the boy's hand once.
With time running out, officials say the last option is to drill a borewell a few metres away.
"We are going to dig a parallel borewell with the help of supersonic drilling machines. If we are able to reach 70 feet in 1.5 hours, we can then build a small access and retrieve the baby boy," said a source.
Fire and rescue officials, meanwhile, continued to attempt a rescue with the old rope method till the drilling machines arrived.
Tourism Minister Vellamandi N Natarajan, Backward Classes Minister S Valarmathi, District Collector S Sivarasu and SP Ziaul Haque were present during the entire course of the rescue operation.