TIRUNELVELI: A 29-year-old woman who accidentally fell into an open well at
Subbiahpuram village near Alagiyapandiyapuram in
Tirunelveli district of
Tamil Nadu was rescued by the fire and rescue services personnel with the help of locals on Saturday afternoon. The woman escaped with injuries only in her legs as there was three to five feet deep water in the well.
Personnel in the rescue team told TOI that the woman V Gnanasoundari of Ammankulam Street in Subbiahpuram, said to be a mentally ill woman, fell into the
90-ft-deep well around 11am when she went there for washing clothes and for a bath. Locals informed rescue personnel around 11.15am.
V Gnanasoundari was successfully rescued around 12.45pm and was given first aid.
Pettai fire service personnel reached the place (31 kms away) at 11.47am. The seven-member team, lead by station fire officer S Pradeep Kumar, began rescue operations while more than 300 anxious villagers surrounded the well. The rescue team first lowered a loop made of a rope.
But the woman showed resistance in sitting on it, after which the fire fighters Hariharasudhan and Athinarayanan and two locals got in. They took a stretcher, rope and saree to rescue the woman. They tied her to the stretcher using the saree and the four corners of the stretcher with a rope, which was lifted by fire fighters and locals from the top.
She was successfully rescued around 12.45pm and was given first aid. Department sources and the public said that she survived with minimum injuries as the well had the right level of water. They said that she would have drowned if there was more water that was available in the well or succumbed to injuries if there was not water.
It is suspected that she suffered a fracture in the legs and did not suffer any other external injuries. She was sent to the Tirunelveli Government Medical College and Hospital and was given intensive treatment. Hospital sources said that she was out of danger and that she would have to undergo treatment for a few days.
The woman escaped with injuries only in her legs as there was three to five feet deep water in the well.