Girl pulled out of borewell after 10 hours, declared dead

A two-and-a-half-year-old girl, who fell into a nearly 200-foot-deep borewell while playing in Seehi village here, was declared dead after being pulled out early Monday, police said.

The girl, identified as Neha, was playing with other children near the borewell when she fell into it on Sunday evening. A tractor was parked nearby and the children had climbed onto it while playing. Neha allegedly slipped from the tractor and fell into the borewell.

Neha was pulled out of the borewell at 4 am after a 10-hour operation and rushed to a private hospital where doctors declared her dead.

“We have kept the body in a mortuary. A postmortem examination will be conducted to reveal the exact cause of her death”, a senior police officer said.

Teams from the Haryana Police, State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Municipal Corporation, and Health Department worked at the site to rescue the girl.

An NDRF official said they had received information about the girl falling into the borehole around 8 pm on Sunday and rushed to the spot.

Initially, the rescue team could hear the sound of the girl crying, but after some time it stopped.

The equipment brought by the team proved ineffective inside the borewell. After this a tool was fabricated on-site with the help of a local car mechanic, officials said.

SDRF officials said though the borehole had been abandoned for several years, it contained water at a depth of 125 feet, which significantly hampered the rescue operation.

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The child was trapped upside down at a depth of around 200 feet. After a strenuous effort, the team managed to pull her out by her legs but she could not be saved.

Residents of Sector-8 blamed civic authorities for the accident, saying the borewell had not been sealed in a completely secure manner.

However, executive engineer of the Municipal Corporation, Faridabad, Sanjeev Kumar said the borewell had been sealed with a lid about 15 years ago. The corporation had not received any information regarding the lid being removed.

“The matter would be investigated and action would be taken in accordance with the rules against those found to be negligent”, he added.