Ambala, July 1:- Four-year-old Nirvair Singh, who fell into an open borewell while playing in Dhaniora village, finally lost his battle for life. After a 21-hour struggle, he was pulled out at around 3:30 am and immediately taken to the Civil Hospital in Ambala city, but by then his life had already passed away.
Nirvair fell into a 220-feet deep open borewell while playing yesterday morning. On receiving information, several agencies including the Indian Army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the local district administration launched a rapid rescue operation. During this, the agencies had to face many challenges. Water started leaking into the narrow borewell from a depth of about 60 feet. The child got stuck at a place where the water level was slowly rising and he was slowly sinking.
The intermittent rains and landslides forced the rescue teams to revise their rescue methods and restart the operation. NDRF Assistant Commandant Anil Kumar said that the child was stuck in a water-filled borewell. He was slowly sinking and the water level was rising. They had to restart the operation again and again due to several challenges.
He also said that the teams did not find any signs of life during the final stages of the child's rescue. Although the cameras were working, the light was very dim due to the water filling the borewell and the water was preventing the camera from reaching the child. Only one hand of the child was visible. A strategy was devised to tie the rope securely with that hand and then pull him upwards.
At around 12:30 pm, Nirvair got stuck in the hook attached to the rope but the water kept loosening its grip. Then he slipped a few feet deeper into the borewell. The incident further increased the concerns of the rescue team. Heavy rains began at 3:30 pm. The rescue teams immediately covered the borewell with tents and umbrellas. The complex operation that lasted all night was successful at 3:30 am on Wednesday, but by then it was too late.
After digging and searching, the rescue team pulled out the 4-year-old child from the borewell in the early hours of the morning, and the health department ambulance immediately took him to the city hospital. Medical officials confirmed that the child had died before reaching the hospital. City hospital medical officer Dr. Rishipal said, "We started examining the child immediately after he was rescued. When we did an ECG at the hospital, he was declared 'brought dead'." As soon as the news of the child's death was received, no one in the entire village lit the stove and every eye became moist.
The postmortem of the child was conducted at the civil hospital later this afternoon and the body was handed over to the family. The atmosphere became gloomy as soon as the body of the innocent child reached the village. The doctor who came specially from Ambala Cantt Civil Hospital to conduct the postmortem told the media that the child's body was brought at around 4 am. In the postmortem, it was seen that the child had injury marks on his head and chest, there were abrasions, apart from this, water particles were also found in his lungs due to drowning.
Harinder Singh, the uncle of the deceased child, said that the teams succeeded in pulling the child out after 21 hours. The administration got full support, the Sarpanch Sahib, the entire village residents, the people of the surrounding villages gave full support. Langar was also served. Everyone, from the youngest to the oldest, reached, the child had gone deeper, so it took time. The agencies tried to pull him out, but failed two or three times. He said that they called a brother from Punjab to help him and the child was brought out after 21 hours. He said that the unused borewell was lying open, if it had been closed, this tragedy would not have happened. Legal action will have to be taken.
According to information, Ambala Sadar Police has registered a case against the person who left the borewell open.