3-year-old falls into 120-feet borewell in Telangana, dies due to asphyxiation

In a fateful mishap, a three-year-old boy accidentally fell into an open borewell on Wednesday evening in Telangana's Medak district. Despite the intense rescue operations that went long for 12 hours since the incident, the boy was reported dead due to asphyxiation on Thursday, May 28.

Three-year-old dies in borewell 

Three-year-old Sanjay Sai Vardhan fell into the 120-feet-deep newly dug open borewell in Medak on Wednesday. The rescuers immediately reached the spot and supplied oxygen into the borewell. Earth excavation machines were also pressed into service to dig around it, but all in vain.

The dead body of the child was recovered by 4 am on Thursday by the National Disaster Response Force teams.

"He died a while before we evacuated him, most likely due to the mud that covered him from the top sealing off necessary oxygen supply," said Medak District Superintendent of Police Chandana Deepti.

The incident took place in the boy's maternal grandfather Mangali Bhikshapathi's agricultural fields in Podichanpally village of Papannapet block.

Sai Vardhan, along with his parents, Goverdhan and Naveena, and his two elder brothers, came to the village a few days ago.

Borewell drilled by his grandfather 

According to the police sources, Bhikshapathi had abandoned the bore well as he did not get any water even after digging 120 feet deep. On Wednesday morning hence, he had got another bore well drilled although it too did not yield water.

"While his grandfather was inspecting the closure of one of the bore wells, Sai Vardhan accidentally slipped into the adjacent open borewell," said the police.

The police force along with the revenue officials of Medak district rushed to the spot to begin the rescue operations.

As the news regarding the fateful mishap spread wide by Wednesday evening, Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundarajan expressed concern and spoke to the Tamil Nadu Health Minister as a similar incident had recently taken place in Trichy where the boy was recovered from the well.

Oxygen was supplied into the bore well, after locating the boy about 25 feet deep inside the tunnel. "Despite our best efforts, we could not save the boy, who apparently died of asphyxiation. His body was retrieved from under the debris that fell on him at around 25 ft," said a police official involved in the rescue operations.

The body was then sent to a government hospital for post mortem.