BELAGAVI: A 40-year-old mason from Belagavi saved the life of a three-year-old boy, who accidentally fell into a 100-foot-deep well at Patne-Fata village in Maharashtra along the Karnataka border near Belagavi on Monday.
The mason, Rahul Katkar was felicitated by the residents of Patne-Fata and surrounding villages. From Ambewadi village in Belagavi taluk, Katkar was busy at a construction site when he heard a few children shouting for help as one of them had accidentally fallen into the open well. The boy, Ayush Anand Tupare, was struggling to stay afloat.
Katkar, who was working on the first floor, jumped on a heap of sand next to the construction site, and rushed to the well. He quickly climbed down a rope that was already tied to it, and pulled Ayush out of the water. As he was climbing up using the rope, holding onto the boy, the rope snapped. Both Katkar and Ayush fell into the water.
By that time, some villagers reached the spot. One of the villagers, Rahul Kamble, climbed down the well and managed to lift the child to safety. Katkar sustained injuries in his hands and legs and also lost his mobile phone in the water. The parents of the boy and villagers offered a cash reward to Katkar to buy a mobile phone. But he refused to take it, saying it was only his duty to save the child.