3-year-old girl rescued from borewell in Tamil Nadu after 19 hours, dies in hospital

Villupuram, Tamil Nadu: After a 19-hour long struggle, a three-year-old girl who fell into an abandoned borewell in the district was on Sunday rescued, but she later died in hospital. R Madhumita, stuck at around 28-30 ft of the 500-feet borewell at Pallagaseri village since Saturday, was pulled out around 3 am and rushed to the Kallakurichi Government General Hospital, police said.

After nearly an hour-long effort to save her, the doctors declared her dead. "The child was in a state of coma when brought to the hospital... Affected by lack of oxygen for long hours," hospital Superintendent Dr Udayakumar said.

The girl, who was playing in the field owned by her father, fell into the borewell around 8 am on Saturday as polythene sacks covering it gave away when she stepped on it.

Teams from police, fire and rescue services personnel began rescue efforts, which included supply of oxygen into the borewell and digging a pit parallel to the borewell. TVS Community College personnel from Madurai too pitched in to support the rescue efforts and tried to pull out the girl using robotic arms in vain.

The incident exposes yet again failure to enforce the 2010 Supreme Court guidelines on safety measures while digging borewells, issued in the aftermath of increasing number of fatal falls into borewells across the country.

In September last year, a six-year old girl child met with a similar fate after falling into a borewell in Pulavanpadi village in Tiruvannamalai District.