Hope ends, girl's body retrieved from borewell in Belagavi

Hopes ended for the family of six-year-old Kaveri Madar late on Monday night, when rescue workers brought out her body from the borewell at Jhunjurwada in Athani taluk, into which she had fallen on Saturday.

The body was recovered at 11.30 pm, after a 54-hour operation. However, the girl is yet to be declared dead officially. The body, wrapped in white cloth, was taken in an ambulance to the primary health centre at Kokatnur, where the girl’s mother Savita has been admitted. Savita had taken ill due to the trauma of the incident.

Superintendent of Police Ravikante Gowda told reporters it was painful the rescue operation ended on a sad note. The girl’s body would be handed over to her family after the post mortem, he said.

The girl was stuck at around 25 feet in the 400-foot-deep borewell. Intensive excavation work had been undertaken to access the girl, but rocky terrain had hampered the rescue operations.

The footage of the camera that was dropped into the borewell, along with oxygen supply pipeline, showed that the girl was buried under mud.

Rescue teams involving experts from National Disaster Response Force, Hutti Gold Mines and Fire and Emergency services had taken part in the exercise.

Besides local police and officials of various departments, 20 personnel of NDRF, Pune, are involved in the operations. Fifteen Army personnel, 25 experts from Hutti Gold Mines and the disaster helpline centre of Maharashtra are also part of the rescue efforts.
DH News Service

ZP to close defunct borewells in 3 days
The Bagalkot ZP has resolved to close all the dried up borewells in the district within three days, reports DHNS. The issue came up during the meeting on Monday, in the wake of a six-year-old girl falling into a borewell in Jhunjurwada in Belagavi district.

The ZP members unanimously adopted a resolution to close all the dried up borewells and entrust the responsibility to the PDOs. It was also decided that criminal case would be registered against the PDOs who fail to follow the direction. Thimmanna (6) died after falling into an 180-foot open borewell in his land in Sulikeri village of Bagalkot taluk on August 3, 2014. A criminal case was registered against Thimmanna’s father and the PDO. The officer was suspended in this connection after which PDOs went on a strike. The suspension was revoked subsequently.