Freed from borewell after 16 hours, 7-year-old loses battle for life

Barely an hour after she was rescued from an abandoned open borewell on a farm in Enanganur village in Karur district on Saturday, a seven-year-old girl died of complications she developed during the 16 hours she endured in the pit.

The girl’s parents, Pandi Poosari and Perumayee from Muthoor near Vellakovil in Tirupur district, both farmers, had rented a piece of land owned by Sakthivel at Enanganur near Thoorupani in Aravakurichi for agriculture. The couple was staying on the farm with their two children, police said. Sakthivel had recently dug a 700-feet-deep borewell on the farm. Since there was no water, he abandoned the borewell, which was 12 inches in diameter for the first 12 feet and 8 inches in diameter afterwards, and reportedly covered it with a gunny bag. On Saturday, at around 7 am, Pandi Poosari and his seven-year old daughter Muthu Lakshmi went to pluck drumsticks from the field. Since her father was busy, the girl was left to play near the borewell. All of a sudden, Muthu Lakshmi stepped on the gunny bag and slipped into the hole. On hearing her screams, the girl’s father found her trapped in the pit at a depth of 12 feet. He immediately alerted the 108 ambulance service and fire and rescue personnel, who swung into action. Rescue workers commenced with three earth movers.

Though Muthu Lakshmi was pulled out of the pit at around 10.45 pm and taken to the Karur Government Hospital, she breathed her last an hour later. Doctors said the oxygen content in her brain was very low, which may have caused death.