Hours after the body of four-year-old Mahi was pulled out of a borewell in Haryana where she was trapped for the past four days, a youth fell into a well in West Bengal’s Howrah district on Sunday but divers failed to find him even ten hours after the fall.
Rausan Ali Mondal, a mason by profession, slipped and fell into the 30-feet deep well at Eksara village in Howrah district at around 1530 hours.
West Bengal Disaster Management Minister and Fire Services minister Javed Khan who rushed to the spot and is supervising the rescue operation said fire brigade and disaster management personnel were carrying out rescue work at the site and the army has been asked to be on standby.
He said close circuit cameras have been requisitioned and the rescue team was taking the help of metro engineers.
The earth around the well is also caving in and the well is so narrow that the rescuers are finding it difficult to rescue the youth, the minister said.
Asked about the fate of the youth, the minister said, “our men are inside the well. Let them come out, then we can tell (you about the youth’s fate).”
The Fire minister dismissed complaints of late response by fire brigade personnel and the disaster management team in reaching the spot after the incident.
“There had been heavy rain in the area which delayed the rescue operation. The well was very narrow and there was huge accumulation of methane gas inside,” he said.
However, a source in the police said, “The chances of the youth surviving in the well 10-hours after the fall was remote.”
