An 18-year-old woman died in Kanpur’s Purwami village on Friday after the courtyard of her house collapsed, causing her to fall into a nearly 25-foot-deep abandoned borewell, police said.
Yashi Savita was pulled out after nearly seven hours of rescue efforts but was declared dead at a community health centre (CHC) in Sarsaul.
Police officers said the incident took place around 6.40 am, when Yashi had just stepped out of the bathroom after a bath. She fell into the abandoned borewell below after the ground beneath her gave way as she moved towards the courtyard.
Yashi’s elder sister saw her fall and called their parents. The family initially tried to rescue Yashi by lowering a rope into the opening. But the soil continued to cave in, and she slipped further down. The family then alerted the police.
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According to police officers, a police response vehicle (PRV) 112 reached the spot at around 6.55 am, followed by local police at about 7.15 am. Fire brigade personnel arrived around 8.15 am, while a National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team reached the village at about 8.40 am. The rescue operation began around 9.25 am.
Around 60 personnel worked on the rescue and, by the afternoon, the teams had excavated around 24 feet and were able to reach Yashi.
{{/usCountry}}Around 60 personnel worked on the rescue and, by the afternoon, the teams had excavated around 24 feet and were able to reach Yashi.
{{/usCountry}}NDRF deputy commandant Naveen Sharma said that Yashi was pulled out unconscious and taken to CHC Sarsaul.
“We examined her for about 10 minutes. She was not breathing and had already died,” Dipendra Uttam of CHC Sarsaul said, adding that Yashi was brought to the health centre around 2.43 pm.
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The family members said that the borewell was dug inside the house around three years ago. It was abandoned after no water was found, following which another borewell was dug at a different location. The old borewell was covered and a floor was built over it.
The family suspects that continuous rainfall had weakened the soil around the old borewell, eventually causing the ground in the courtyard to collapse.
Yashi was the youngest of four sisters. She lived with her father, Vinod, who is a daily-wage labourer, mother Rekha Devi, sisters Ruchi, Rupa and Anupama, and her brother Bhaskar alias Amit.