MP: Efforts to rescue toddler trapped in borewell hit stumbling block

A toddler, Bhagirath, remains trapped 60–65 feet inside a borewell in Ujjain. Rescue teams including National Disaster Response Force face delays due to rocks while digging a parallel pit, with oxygen supply and monitoring efforts ongoing

Ujjain: A two-and-a-half-year-old boy who fell into a borewell in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain district remained trapped as efforts to rescue him by digging a parallel pit slowed down due to rocks, officials said on Friday.

The toddler, Bhagirath, slipped into a borewell in Jhalariya village, about 75 km from the district headquarters, on Thursday evening, triggering a massive rescue operation involving teams, including the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).

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The authorities carried out the operation through the night to rescue the child, who is stuck at a depth of 60-65 feet, but could not pull him out, an official said.

Officials said teams were digging a parallel pit to reach the child safely, but encountered rock formations that slowed the work.

They said a camera was lowered into the shaft to monitor the child and oxygen supply was being ensured.

“The actual situation will be known only after he is brought out,” Badnagar police station in-charge Ashok Patidar.

Another official said the excavation had reached around 40 feet before encountering rocks.

He said specialised drilling machines have been brought from Bhopal and Indore to cut through the rock.

State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) Commandant Santosh Jat said efforts were being made to pull the child up using a “rescue rope ring”.

Ujjain Superintendent of Police Pradeep Sharma said teams from the NDRF and SDRF are involved in the operation, using nearly half a dozen excavators and JCB machines. He said ambulances and essential equipment have been deployed at the site in view of the emergency.

“All possible efforts are being made to rescue the child safely,” he added.

Officials said Bhagirath is the son of Praveen Devasi, a resident of Rajasthan who works as a shepherd.

They said the family was grazing sheep in the village in Badnagar tehsil on Thursday when a stone covering the borewell got displaced, possibly by an animal.

The child, who was walking behind, removed the cover out of curiosity, but slipped into it, they said.

The boy’s maternal uncle said the child’s mother saw him peering into the deep pit but he fell before she could reach him.

He said the family had arrived in the area three days ago from Gudanla village in Rajasthan’s Pali district, while the father had gone back to Pali at the time of the incident.