Chinnari declared dead, mortal remains brought out

After the heart-rending struggle for three days inside a depth of 250 feet in the borewell under darkness, it turned out to be a tragic end for little Chinnari on Sunday.

Notwithstanding multiple rescue operations by different agencies over the past 72 hours, the 18-month-old girl was declared dead. She slipped into 450-foot-deep borewell at Ekkareddyguda of Chevella of neighbouring Ranga Reddy district, 50 km from here, three days ago.

When rescue efforts began around 7 p.m. on Thursday by villagers soon after she slipped into the borewell on a crop-field, everyone hoped that she would be brought out safe. As hours passed by, they realised it was not that easy.

Rescue teams tried to pull up the submersible water pump from the 450-foot depth, thinking that the girl would also come up along with it. However, on hearing the girl’s cries, they stopped it midway. For next three days, fire safety personnel, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams, Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) experts and the police made continuous efforts but in vain.

Drilling again

By Saturday night, they surmised that the girl was not alive as her voice was not heard. Even three-dimension cameras could not locate her till 250 feet inside. With the consent of her parents, they began drilling the borewell again by increasing its circumference.

Casing pipes were inserted into the borewell as fresh drilling continued. “At nearly 250 feet, we started using high-pressure compressors to throw up mud from the borewell,” Cyberabad Police Commissioner Sandeep Sandilya said.

Finally, around 6.30 a.m. on Sunday, fractured bones of the girl gushed out along with water from the borewell, leaving the rescue team members dumbstruck. “It was disturbing that we could not secure even her body. All that we could retrieve were some bones,” a police official said.

The only thing intact was her full-sleeves frock. It was the shock of their life for Chinnari’s parents and other family members. With broken hearts, they buried her remains as villagers wept.