More than 60 hours after Sujith, a two-year-old boy fell into a borewell near Trichy in Tamil Nadu, rescue operations are still underway in the village. The rescue team has drilled a hole around 40 feet deep parallel to the borewell in which Sujith has been trapped.
According to reports, the drilling is progressing at a slow pace than expected since the terrain in the region is rocky. A new drilling machine has also been deployed to expedite the process since the old machine allegedly showed slow progress. Once the hole is drilled, rescue personnel will go inside in pairs and drill a triangular hole big enough for a person to crawl in and bring Sujith out, as per reports.
Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu O Panneerselvam also reached the spot late on Sunday night and consoled Sujith’s father and mother. Apart from O Panneerselvam, other ministers -- C Vijayabhaskar (Health Minister), RB Udhaya Kumar (Disaster Management Minister), MR Vijayabaskar (Transport Minister) etc are on the spot monitoring the progress of the rescue efforts. J Radhakrishnan, Principal Secretary is also at the spot, overseeing the rescue operations.
Sujith fell into the borewell on Friday evening when he was playing with his cousins. Though he was stuck at 27 feet deep earlier, his position slipped to around 100 feet by Sunday. The officials are also monitoring Sujith’s movements and health condition as the drilling is underway to bring him out. State Health Minister C Vijayabhaskar, who was overseeing the operation, confirmed on Sunday afternoon that the boy’s cries were last heard on Saturday morning around 5:30 am.
While a team from Chennai's Anna University employed a specialised thermal camera to report the presence of body temperature on Saturday night, the Minister had said on Sunday that no breathing sounds were heard. However, oxygen continued to be supplied with hopes of the child being alive. No motion had been detected, said the Minister, and Sujith's hand was visible from CCTV footage, amid sand sediments.
Initial efforts to dig a parallel hole on Saturday to rescue Sujith was brought to a halt over rocky terrain. Four separate robotic devices brought in by expert groups led by Manikandan from Madurai, Daniel from Namakkal, Sridhar from Coimbatore, and Venkatesh from Chennai also failed to yield results, with the child being firmly lodged in the borewell. According to government officials present at the site, the machines allowed for ropes to be lowered and tightened around the wrist of the child to pull him out. However, that could not succeed due to wet mud and the inability of the child to grasp the ropes.
A parallel hole is being drilled since Sunday using an ONGC rig and an L&T rig.