3-yr-old girl dies after 10-hr rescue bid from abandoned Faridabad borewell

The girl slipped from a tractor’s loading bucket and fell into the 12-inch-wide borewell while playing with other children in Sihi on Sunday evening.

A three-year-old girl who fell into a 250-foot-deep abandoned borewell in Faridabad’s Sihi, was found to have died after she was pulled out after a nearly 10-hour operation, police and rescue officials said on Monday. Police said the autopsy report will establish whether the child died from drowning or suffocation.

Police said the autopsy report will establish whether the girl died from drowning or suffocation. Her family has not pressed charges. (HT)

The incident took place around 6pm on Sunday as the minor was playing with other children from her neighbourhood. She was found to be stuck upside down at a depth of 170 feet. A rescue operation was launched immediately after police officials were informed.

She was finally pulled out around 3.50 am on Monday and rushed to a nearby private hospital, where she was declared dead, police and rescue officials added.

Her body was shifted to Badshah Khan Civil Hospital by 10.30am and handed over to the family following an autopsy.

NDRF rescuers used a camera, rescue umbrella, metal rods and rappelling ropes to pull the child out inch by inch early Monday. (HT)

Assistant commissioner of police (Ballabgarh) Ravi Khundia told HT that the family had not pressed any charges against anyone in the incident. “On the statement of the victim’s father, a formal inquiry under section 194 Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita is being carried out,” he said.

On Sunday, the girl was playing on a loading bucket attached to the front of a tractor when the incident took place, police said.

ACP Khundia said she slipped and fell into the 12-inch-wide borewell. After the other children she was playing with raised the alarm, parents and other residents gathered at the spot and informed police.

“Police teams, the fire department and officials of the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) reached the spot and immediately started rescue work,” he said.

District administration officials said they alerted the NDRF by 7.45pm, whose team was deployed around 36km away in Noida and reached the spot within an hour after departing from station by 8.05pm. Kunal Tiwari, NDRF deputy commandant, eighth battalion, told HT the team reached the spot at 9.05pm and deployed its equipment. “We requisitioned a camera from the administration, which was made available to us within 10 minutes,” he said.

Before the NDRF’s arrival, firefighters and MCF officials ensured oxygen continued to reach the borewell by deploying multiple cylinders.

Mayank Bhardwaj, sub-divisional magistrate (Ballabgarh), said the last cry from the girl was heard until 8.30pm, after which there was no response.

Tiwari said the camera showed muddy water at 120 feet and floating slippers. “Afterwards, we pushed in a rescue umbrella inside the borewell, which was obstructed at 160-170 feet,” he said.

The umbrella was deployed and slowly pulled up until rescuers spotted two feet on the camera screen. “We realised the child was trapped upside down. We requisitioned metal rods and rappelling ropes from administration and improvised them to prepare O-rings as per the size of the child’s feet to tie rope around them,” Tiwari said.

NDRF officials said knotting was completed by 3.10am and an L-hook was pushed inside as a precaution to support the child’s head. Over the next 40 minutes, rescuers pulled the girl out inch by inch and handed her to the medical team waiting in an ambulance.

Sanjeev Kumar, executive engineer, MCF, told HT the borewell was at least 15 years old and had once supplied water to an overhead water supply tank in the area. “The tank was demolished several years back, and the borewell was sealed accordingly for safety reasons. However, it was yet unclear when and who removed the seal,” he said.

Kumar said neither villagers nor a building supply company that had its warehouse near the spot had noticed the seal being removed. After the retrieval ended at 4.05am, MCF officials resealed the borewell with concrete and bent the metal pipe as an additional precaution. He said the corporation would get all sealed borewells checked for safety following the incident.