MANAPPARAI: A total of 12 firemen have been selected for going down the parallel 100 ft hole which is being drilled 6 feet away from the borewell where a two-year-old toddler Sujith has been stuck since Friday night.
According to sources, the plan is to send two men down at a time who will have to note the condition inside and come back up to report. Based on the report, the plan to dig a horizontal tunnel to reach the boy will be executed.
Out of the 12 firemen, 4 recently underwent scuba diving training in Puducherry. So these men will be able to control their breath more efficiently. The other 8 are best firemen from different fire stations.
Two men going down the vertical tunnel at a time will be dropped using ropes. They will be carrying oxygen cylinders and advanced tools to dig the side tunnel. There is also a plan to replace the pair for every half an hour gap.
Speaking to Express, one member of the rescue team said "We are ready to go into the hole once it is dug. We consider Sujith like our child. We will definitely bring the boy up."
Rescue efforts continued for the third day to save the toddler who fell into an abandoned borewell in a village in Tamil Nadu's Tiruchirappalli district. The toddler fell into a 600-feet borewell in front of his house on Friday night while playing with cousins. While Sujith was initially spotted at a depth of 27-feet, he later sunk as low as 100-feet.
With different methods of rescue failing for 36 hours, the fire and rescue officials deployed a heavy drilling machine on Sunday morning to dig a secondary hole just 6 feet away. However, it remains to be a difficulty due to the hard nature of the soil.
Health minister, C Vijayabaskar said, "Through the footage we have now, we have access to his fingertips. No breathing or movement has been seen since Saturday morning. He could be unconscious."