INDIA: Ten-year-old Rahul Sahu fell down the 80-foot (24 metres) well on Friday afternoon while playing in the backyard of his house in the central state of Chhattisgarh.
Earth movers and cranes were used to help dig a tunnel next to the well, which is only a couple of feet wide. Army personnel and members of India’s disaster response agency helped in the operation.
Sahu “has been rescued safely because of everyone’s prayers and untiring efforts of the rescue team,” State Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said on Twitter.
Jeetendra Shukla, head of the local district administration, told journalists that the boy “was alive but weak” and was “rushed to a super speciality hospital” in the nearby district.
“A snake was seen in the same borewell but the boy has shown exemplary bravery and stayed calm during the operation,” he added.
Bad weather — and venomous snakes and scorpions unearthed by the dig — hampered rescue efforts, local officials said.
During the rescue operation a camera was used to monitor the boy’s condition and movements, Janjgir district police chief Vijay Agrawal told Agencies by phone from the scene earlier Tuesday. “Since the boy cannot speak or listen, we have a bigger challenge,” he added.
An oxygen pipe fed Sahu fresh air, a Government spokesman said. The tunnelling effort was slowed by hard stone underneath the ground. - INDIA TODAY
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