Scared boy in machine bucket, video goes viral

By Sukhada Khandge

12-year-old had entered front portion of earth mover to retrieve ball, operator moved him up and down

A12-year-old boy, out to retrieve his ball from the bucket of a heavy earth mover, was in for a rude shock, when the operator of the machine moved up the bucket without warning, with the boy still inside. The incident happened near Nagzira Nala, Bhavani Peth, where the heavy machines were being used, reportedly for cleaning.

Sarthak Limboni was playing with his friend in the area where the earth movers were operating when the ball they were playing with fell into the machine’s bucket. When Sarthak went in to pick up the ball, the earth mover suddenly started and went up and down, scaring the child badly.

Even as the scared child in limbo hung on to the bucket for dear life, the driver and other labourers reportedly started taking videos which then went viral. Though the incident happened two days back but the scared boy did not tell his parents about it. It was only after the video went viral that Sarthak’s parents came to know about the mishap.

Poonam Limboni, Sarthak’s mother, said, “My son usually plays around with his friends but he did not tell about the earth mover lifting him as he was scared. It was only after we saw the viral video that we got to know about such incident. Today, my son did not go to play there as he was petrified. Though we have not complained to anyone still it is completely wrong that such incident took place. What if my child had fallen down?”

With the incident catching on, a search for the people responsible has been mounted and operators of heavy earth moving machinery are being tracked. Local corporator Tejendra Kondhare has filed a complaint about the incident with the Pune Municipal Corporation’s ward office.

He said, “What I understood from the video is that cleaning work was going on near Nagzira Nala and contractors were involved. But instead of working they were having fun teasing the child. What if the child had got hurt? It is utterly wrong for them to have scared the child.”

While Kondhare has asked the ward officer to find out about the heavy machine operator, PMC officials deny that any such work was going on near the Nala.

Vaibhav Kadlakh, assistant municipal commissioner, Bhavani Peth ward office said, “We have received the complaint but no such cleaning work was going on near the Nala. We have asked our engineer to trace the number of the machine that figures in the video and track the operator.”

Anuradha Sahastrabuddhe, convener, Childline, a helpline for children, said, “We have not yet received any complaint from anyone regarding this incident. In any case we have to first figure out if the child sat in the bucket for fun or he was really scared.”

█ My son usually plays around with his friends but he did not tell about the incident as he was scared. It was only after we saw the viral video that we got to know about such incident

— Poonam Limboni, the boy’s mother