A three-year-old girl was rescued from a hole dug at her maternal grandparent’s house on Wednesday (August 1).

Sana, daughter of Nachiketa Prasad, fell in a deep borewell while playing and got stuck 43-feet underground.

When the relatives were unable to pull her out, they alerted local administration who immediately initiated a rescue operation.

The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) launched an operation at around 7 pm on Tuesday (July 31).

“The child had fallen in the area that had been dug next to the pipe in the mud. The rescue team was unable to manually take the child out as the hole was very narrow. As the child was very young we were also unable to ask the child to tie a rope or grab onto a rope and pull her out,” a senior official from SDRF said.

A pipe had been placed with the help of a rope as a base underneath the child to avoid her slipping further into the mud. As per the official, no nourishment could be provided as the child was too young to feed herself.

A continuous oxygen supply had been provided inside the hole with the help of an oxygen cylinder and pipe. A CCTV camera was also placed into the hole to constantly monitor the child.

An L-shaped hole was dug near the borewell outside the house to reach Sana. “The rainy weather and the wet mud further complicated the rescue operation. Our first priority was to extract the child safely,” the official added.

The mother of the child was present by the side of the well where she kept talking to her to ensure that she was alive and stable.

Tensions rose as time slowly crossed past 24-hours with the child receiving no form of solid or liquid nourishment.

Munger district’s Sadar hospital medical superintendent Dr Rakesh Kumar Sinha, who was present at the spot along with two other doctors, said that the child seemed unhurt.

“The child has survived out of sheer willpower. Our main concern was that the child might experience respiratory distress and dehydration. We were also unable to provide any nourishment to the child as we were afraid that the young child might aspirate while feeding herself,” Dr Sinha said.

She was immediately rushed to the Sadar hospital’s ICU once she was rescued.

Though there is no national register of children getting trapped in borewell shafts, the number with the home ministry in Delhi showed that accidental deaths of children due to a fall in pits and manholes had gone up from 175 in 2010, to 192 in 2011 and 194 in 2012.

By Deepali Ravi Mishra
A three-year-old girl, was rescued after 28 hours from a hole dug for a submersible at her maternal grandparent’s house late evening on Wednesday.
Sana, daughter of Nachiketa Prasad, fell in a 160-feet-deep borewell while playing and was stuck at 43-feet. When the relatives were unable to pull her out, they alerted local administration who immediately initiated a rescue operation.
The state Disaster Response Rorce (SDRF) launched an operation at around 7pm on Tuesday.
“The child had fallen in the area that had been dug next to the pipe in the mud. The rescue team was unable to manually take the child out as the hole was very narrow. As the child was very young we were also unable to ask the child to tie a rope or grab onto a rope and pull her out,” a senior official from SDRF said.
A pipe had been placed with the help of a rope as a base underneath the child to avoid her slipping further into the mud. As per the official, no nourishment could be provided as the child was too young to feed herself. A continuous oxygen supply had been provided inside the hole with the help of an oxygen cylinder and pipe. A CCTV camera was also placed into the hole to constantly monitor the child.
An L-shaped hole was dug near the borewell outside the house to reach Sana. “The rainy weather and the wet mud further complicated the rescue operation. Our first priority was to extract the child safely,” the official added. The mother of the child was present by the side of the well where she kept talking to her to know her reaction and ensure that the she was alive and stable.
Tensions rose as time slowly crossed past 24-hours with the child receiving no form of solid or liquid nourishment.
Munger district’s sadar hospital medical superintendent Dr Rakesh Kumar Sinha, who was present at the spot along with two other doctors, said that the child seemed unhurt.
“The child has survived out of sheer will power. Our main concern was that the child might experience respiratory distress and dehydration. We were also unable to provide any nourishment to the child as we were afraid that the young child might aspirate while feeding herself,” Dr Sinha said. She was immediately rushed to the Sadar hospital’s ICU once she was rescued.
A similar incidence had occurred on July 30 in Naugachia, Bhagalpur where a four-year-old boy had fallen inside a borewell. To rescue the child, a relative had also followed it inside the bore well, but had fallen unconscious.
Though there is no national register of children getting trapped in borewell shafts, the number with the home ministry in Delhi showed that accidental deaths of children due to a fall in pits and manholes had gone up from 175 in 2010, to 192 in 2011 and 194 in 2012.
The largest number of these child casualties was reported from Madhya Pradesh (67 children killed in 2012), followed by Maharashtra (39), Uttar Pradesh (19), Gujarat (18) and Tamil Nadu (13).
A five-year-old girl died after she fell into a borewell in Patna’s Mitra Mandal Colony in June 2015.
In August 2017, a two-year old Chandra Sekhar was rescued after 12 hours of falling into a borewell while playing with children in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur. In September 2013, a three-year-old child, Naveen, was rescued after nearly three hours of falling into a borewell in Chandigarh.