NELLORE: A three-year-old girl died after falling into a borewell dug up by locals of Peddapalem village to provide water to a local school and some houses of the village, on Monday. Rescue workers, however, pulled out a four-year-boy safely out of the borewell.
In a two-hour operation, rescue workers pulled out the boy safely giving hopes that the girl too would be brought out safely. The operation, however, ended on a tragic note with the death of the three-year girl due to injuries and suffocation.
The incident took place in Utukuru Peddapalem village in Vidavaluru mandal of the district. Around 5.30 pm, the two children - four-year-old Gopiraju and the deceased Moksitha (3) - while playing went near the borewell that was dug up four days back and accidentally they slipped into it. Locals noticed the two fell into the borewell pit which developed as a trench as the soil was loose in the area, as the village is near the sea coast.
For the villagers, the loose soil came as a bane as they started digging the soil with spade to dig a pit parallel to the borewell.
Simultaneously, information was passed to officials who rushed ambulances, police personnel and fire services personnel to the village. Local MLA Nallapureddy Prasanna Kumar, who was touring a village nearby Peddapalem, too rushed to the place and supervised the operations. A JCB was also arranged by the MLA and rescue operations was speeded up.
Oxygen was provided through pipes after the ambulance arrived at the spot. In less than two hours, a parallel pit was dug up and Gopiraju was pulled out safely. He was immediately rushed to Vidavaluru government hospital.
Rescue workers, however, found it difficult to pull out Moksitha as she got stuck in the pit and after struggling for some time, she too was pulled out. By then, Moksitha was unconscious and was rushed to a hospital at Ramateertham but she could not be saved. The three-year-old died of suffocation and injuries, police said.
Moksitha's family hails from Chirala and they had come to Vidavaluru to attend a function in their relative's house.
Nellore Rural DSP KV Raghava Reddy said the two children fell into the well dug by villagers as part of drinking water project. "The borewell was dug four days back to provide water to a school and also to some houses in the village. The villagers were planning to install a motor on Tuesday,'' a police officer said.
Moksitha's father Eshwariah, however, alleged that the negligence of the villagers of Peddapalem claimed the life of his daughter.
Meanwhile, the government announced an exgratia of Rs five lakh to the family of the girl. MLA Prasanna Kumar Reddy also extended Rs 50,000 to the girl's family and also Rs 50,000 each to two youngsters, Chiranjeevi and Varaprasad hailing from Pattapupalem village, for taking up the rescue operation even before the police and others arrived and played a key role in saving the life of Gopiraju.
Revenue Division Officer Chinni Krishna said they will take steps to cover the borewells to avoid such incidents in future.
Police have registered a case and are investigating.