Telangana: Rescue fails, 3-year-old dies in borewell pit

HYDERABAD: A 10-hour rescue effort failed to save 3-year-old Sai Vardhan who on Wednesday accidentally fell into an abandoned 150-feet borewell on his grandfather's farm in Medak district. Rescuers reached the spot around 4am on Thursday and rushed him to a local hospital, but he had died by then.
His parents Goverdhan and Naveena had sunk three borewells in the three-acre farm on Tuesday, but none yielded water.While they were returning home, the youngest of their three children slipped and fell into one of the uncapped borewells around 5pm on Wednesday.
‘Boy died of suffocation’
Though officials pumped in oxygen into borewell, they were not able to establish contact with him and the cries died down soon. “Since mud fell on him, he died of suffocation,” a rescuer at Rajampeta Thanda said.
A NDRF team assisted police and district administration in reaching out to the boy. As estimated earlier, the boy was found at 25 feet inside the borewell. The NDRF team, comprising personnel from Hyderabad and Guntur, had dug a parallel trench throughout the night with temporary lighting. The family was inconsolable when Sai Vardhan’s body was brought out. Officials said action against the boy’s grandfather Bhikshapathi and borewell contractor was being contemplated as open borewell should have been covered.
Balala Hakkula Sangham president Achyuta Rao wrote to SHRC seeking action against local revenue officials who did not put preventive measures in place against such accidents. He also demanded compensation for boy’s family.