Eighteen-month-old Sujith, who on Tuesday fell into a borewell pit in Kedampalayam in Tiruvannamalai district, has died. His body was retrieved from the pit around 5.30 pm on Wednesday leaving his parents and relatives shattered. Four persons, including the owners of the land, have been arrested in connection with the incident. It took more than 25 hours to recover Sujith’s body, which was stuck in the 175-ft deep borewell. “The child died within two or three hours after he fell into the well,” said a rescue services personnel.
The rocky terrain posed a tough challenge for the rescue team. “We spotted the fingers of Sujith at 47 ft when we sent a camera into the pit. The rest of his body was covered with soil due to vibration caused while digging a parallel pit using earthmovers,” K P Sridhar, assistant professor at Karpagam University, Coimbatore, told Express.
The authorities have sent the body to the Government Hospital in Polur for autopsy. The police have arrested owner of the land Jayapal, his son Pitchaiyappan, manager of the rig company Kalaiarasan, and the driver of the rig vehicle. They confiscated the rig vehicle and have launched a hunt for the owner of the company.
Tiruvannamalai Collector A Gnanasekaran said he has instructed all Block Development Officers and Village Administrative Officers to conduct a thorough check to identify and close defunct and abandoned borewells.