A four-year-old girl fell into a 70-foot borewell at Kasan village here on Wednesday night when relatives and friends had gathered at her house to celebrate her birthday. A rescue operation by the district administration and the Army was on till late in the night.
Though the district administration could not give a clear word on the medical condition of Mahi, who was trapped inside the eight-inch-wide borewell, oxygen was being continuously supplied inside the pit and a camera lowered to ascertain her condition.
“The camera, lowered to a depth of about 65 feet, could only capture a blurred image of her hand. It is difficult to ascertain her condition from it. We are keeping our fingers crossed and supplying oxygen in the hope that she will survive the ordeal,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Parveen Mehta.
The District Magistrate has ordered a probe by Additional Deputy Commissioner K.M. Pandurang.
Mahi was playing with her cousin just outside the house while guests were being entertained inside when she accidentally stepped into the borewell around 11 p.m. “Her cousin tried to catch hold of her, but could grasp only her fingers. Mahi’s parents, guests and neighbours came rushing out and tried to reach her, but in vain. We could hear her pleading for help and telling her father that it was too dark inside. Almost an hour after the incident, she fell silent,” said Surender, a friend of Mahi’s father Neeraj Upadhyaya, who is a private security guard.
The matter was reported to the police almost an hour later and an excavator was hired from a local contractor to dig a pit parallel to the borewell. Senior district administration officials, including Deputy Commissioner P.C. Meena, reached the spot and a team of 3 Engineers Regiment from the Delhi Cantonment joined the operation at the break of dawn.
As the day progressed, a rig machine used for digging metro railway pillars was pressed into service.
According to locals, the owner of the house, Rohtash Tayal, had dug the borewell a fortnight ago and left it open. Though the locals covered it with a stone slab, someone removed it on Wednesday night to park an auto-rickshaw in which guests arrived for the birthday.
