Efforts continue to pull boy out from borewell

BHOPAL - About 48 hours after a six-year-old boy fell into a 400-foot deep borewell in Madhya Pradesh’s Ratlam district, rescue efforts were still on and the army’s help has been sought to pull him out, officials said Thursday.

Meanwhile, people of the boy’s village have resorted to religious recourse. The Hindus have been reciting the Sundarkaand and the Muslims have been using the Quran to pray to the almighty to save Suraj Rathore.

The boy fell into the open borewell while playing in a field in Malvasa village in Ratlam district, around 350 km from here, Tuesday evening.

Suraj, who is presumed to be alive, has not responded after 9.30 p.m Wednesday. Prior to that he was responding to calls by the rescue team.

The boy’s father, Virendra Rathore, had removed the casing of the borewell Monday after it failed to harvest any water.

“Every effort is being made to keep the boy alive. Oxygen is still being pumped into the borewell, hoping to increase the chances of his survival,” an official said.

“He is either unconscious or dead. Doctors are ready to give him aid if we are successful in pulling him out alive. But the chances of survival are very low,” District Collector Mahendra Gyani said.

“The land around the borewell was dug up several times in a bid to reach the boy but every time the earth around the pit caved in. We thus decided to seek the help of army,” he said.