Sehore (Madhya Pradesh): A 2.5-year-old girl who fell into a 300-feet open borewell in Sehore district was declared dead after she was pulled out following a 55-hour joint operation by NDRF, Army and special robot on Thursday evening. The girl’s body has been sent to the district hospital for post-mortem.
The girl named Shristi was playing in the field when her leg slipped and she fell into a n open borewell in Mungavali village on Tuesday noon. SDRF rushed to the spot, but she could not be pulled out. On Wednesday, the girl slid further down, and Army was called. When none of this worked, a rescue team arrived with a special robot.
She was finally pulled out on Thursday evening, after nearly 55 hours of joint operation. She was rushed to the district hospital in an ambulance for a thorough check up only to be declared dead on arrival.
According to the doctors, the reason behind the death of the girl is suffocation.
Body recovered in decomposed state
Sehore District Collector Ashish Tiwari said, "Despite all our attempts, we could not save the girl. Postmortem by a team of two doctors reveals that the body is in a decomposed state. Further details are awaited." Reacting to the incident, Sehore Superintendent of Police (SP) Mayank Awasthi said, "It is an unfortunate incident and action is being taken as per statutory rules. We have registered an FIR against the farm owner and the borer. We have registered a case under sections 188, 308 and 304."
While Chief Minister Shivarj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday said the girl Srishti was initially stuck at 40 feet and slid down further to 100 feet due to vibrations of machines used in the rescue operation, an official at the site informed the child had slipped further to 134-135 feet before being rescued.
Army, robots roped in, but to no avail....
Personnel from multiple agencies, including the Army, were in a race against time to save the girl, with oxygen being supplied to her through a pipe and rescuers facing the challenge of rain and gusty winds since morning in the area, officials said.
A team of robotic experts from Gujarat had joined the operation on Thursday morning to save the girl.
A robot was lowered into the borewell to collect information about the child's condition and the data was being used to contemplate the next course of action in the rescue operation, the robotic team in charge Mahesh Arya had told reporters at the site.
Land owner arrested
Notably, while playing, Shristi reached the field of a neighbour and fell into the open bore-well. It was learnt that a few days back, the land owner had dug the bore well. As the bore-well failed to yield water, he left it open.
According to local reports, the land owner has been arrested.
