Five-year-old Madhya Pradesh boy stuck in borewell dies

BHOPAL: A five-year-old boy, who fell into a 200-feet deep borewell in Madhya Pradesh's Niwari district four days back, could not be saved even after a 90-hour-long rescue operation, officials said on Sunday.

As soon as a team of rescue workers managed to retrieve the child, Prahlad, from the borewell around 3 am on Sunday, he was rushed to a hospital where doctors declared him dead, they said.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in a tweet expressed sadness over the boy's death and announced a financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh for his family.

The child, son of farmer Harikishan Kushwaha, fell into the newly-dug borewell at his father's agriculture field in Saitpura (Barahbujurg) village of Niwari district, located about 350 km from here, on Wednesday morning when labourers were putting a pipe casing in it, police said.

He was stuck at a depth of 60-feet in the 200-feet deep borewell and showed no movement since the past three days, Collector Ashish Bhargava said.

Digging machines were used and around 80 rescuers were involved in the nearly 90-hour-long operation, he said.

After being pulled out in the early hours of Sunday, the child was taken to the Niwari district hospital where doctors declared him brought dead, the collector said.

Later, Chief Minister Chouhan in a tweet said, "I am very sad that innocent Prahlad, who fell in the borewell of his agricultural field in Saitpura village of Niwari, could not be saved even after a 90-hour rescue operation.

" The team of SDRF (State Disaster Response Force), NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) and other experts worked hard day and night, but the boy was found dead at 3 am on Sunday, Chouhan said and appealed to people to keep their borewells covered.

He also announced that a new borewell will be dug in the agricultural field of the boy's family.