NDRF resumes operations to rescue four workers trapped after well cave-in

NDRF resumed on Thursday the rescue operation at the site of an under-construction well where four workers are feared trapped after a cave-in Pune district, an official said

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) resumed on Thursday the rescue operation at the site of an under-construction well where four workers are feared trapped after a cave-in Pune district, an official said. The incident occurred at Mhasobachi Wadi village in Indapur tehsil on Tuesday evening.

NDRF resumed on Thursday the rescue operation at the site of an under-construction well where four workers are feared trapped after a cave-in Pune district, an official said. (HT FILE)

According to officials, the well is 85-foot-deep with a diameter of 120 feet. The site was earlier used for quarrying, they said.

An NDRF official said the rescue operation was suspended on Wednesday evening, as the site contained a substantial amount of debris, and the soil surrounding the well was also loose.

“We have resumed the operation today. It is a big well and during the construction, the inner concrete wall sank and those working at the bottom of the well got trapped,” said the NDRF official.

The official said around 30 NDRF personnel are taking part in the operation. “Till yesterday (Wednesday), we were carrying out the operation with a lot of caution, but today, we have deployed heavy machinery to remove the debris,” he said.

An NDRF official monitoring the operation said that a 30-member team led by their senior officer were on ground and battling challenges like sinking of sand to carry out the rescue operation successfully. The NDRF official further said that eighty per cent of the work was complete and the remaining 20 per cent would be completed by midnight. However, the rescue teams have ruled out the possibility of survivors citing three days of frantic search operation.

The police have identified the victims as Somnath Laxman Gaikwad (35) and Javed Akbar Mulani (35) from Siddheshwar Nimbodi village in Baramati, and Parshuram Bansilal Chavan (30) and Manoj Maruti Sawant (40) from Belwadi in Indapur. The well-digging was underway at the farm belonging to Vijay Ambadas Kshirsagar near Kawadewasti in Indapur tehsil for the last four months. Kshirsagar had given the project to a contractor, who had deployed four persons for the work. After the completion of digging work, the construction of the inner wall of the well was underway when a portion of the wall collapsed leading to the disaster.

With agency inputs