Boy falls into borewell, battles for life

A six-year-old boy is battling for life, after he fell into a borewell at a sugar cane field at Sulikeri village in Badami taluk in the district on Sunday afternoon.

The borewell was dug upto a depth of 360 feet 15 days ago, but there is no water there. Another borewell was dug, but there is no water there too. The boy, identified as Thimmanna Hatti, is stuck at a depth of 160 feet. Micro cameras have been sent down the borewell to monitor the boy’s condition on a laptop. An oxygen pipe has been let down to help the boy breathe. 

The boy fell into the borewell at around 1.45 pm when he went to the fields on a bike with his cousin, to show him the borewell. Deputy Commissioner P A Meghannavar rushed to the spot, along with a team of police personnel, doctors and fire personnel, for the rescue operation.

A rope was let down so as to pull him up, but Hatti failed to catch hold of it properly. The ground is being dug in ‘L’ shape, eight feet away from the borewell, to aid in the rescue operations.

District incharge Minister S R Patil told Deccan Herald that a team of experts was on its way from Mandya, along with a robot device, to help in the rescue efforts. Robot expert Manikanta from Tamil Nadu, besides a national disaster relief team and experts from the Kolar Gold Fields and Hyderabad have also been contacted to reach there.

Thousands of people gathered at the spot to witness the rescue operations. Police are having a tough time in controlling the crowds, even as vehicles are finding it difficult to reach the place on the narrow lanes leading to the spot. One or two spells of rain hampered the rescue operations, which are expected to continue late into the light.