Mahi remains trapped for over 60 hours in borewell

IANS

Manesar, 23 June 2012: More than 60 hours after four-year-old Mahi fell into a 70-feet-deep borewell in a Manesar village in Haryana in the foothills of the Aravali ranges, hopes of her survival grew dimmer, even as the army and the police are racing against time to rescue the trapped girl.

 

Rescue teams had no idea still how deep she has fallen.

 

Indian Army engineers from Delhi and National Security Guard commandos, who are based in Manesar, were trying to rescue the child. The accident drew nationwide attention after wide coverage on TV.

 

According to Chief Medical Officer Praveen Garg, the supply of oxygen was being provided through a pipe to Mahi, although there was no word about her condition.

 

The incident came six years after a similar dramatic rescue of  five- year-old boy called Prince, who was saved 50 hours after falling into a 60-feet pit near Kurukshetra in Haryana, an event that was followed live on national television.   

 

Ground Penetrating Radar System (GPRS) were called to assist the rescue team Friday.

Earlier, a bore was dug parallel to the borewell in which Mahi is trapped.

 

The gap between both the bores is about 8 feet. While digging the tunnel to reach the child, from newbore to borewell, a large piece of stone had became a barrier. Due to that, the rescue team missed the goal Friday.

 

An another tunnel was dug Saturday, the rescue team was facing the same problem. This time instead of cutting the stones by hands they were using hand cutter drill machine, an official further added.

 

If the current efforts fails then a fresh parallel bore would be needed, said an official.

 

Rescue personnel inside the tunnel carrying oxygen pipes with them were hardly able to stay for more than 5 to 10 minutes in the tunnel at a stretch.

 

Rohtash Singh, the owner of the land where Mahi slipped and fell, has been charged but is absconding, DCP (South) Praveen Mehta told IANS.

 

Mahi slipped into a borewell near Manesar’s Industrial Model Township (IMT) on National Highway-8, when her family was celebrating her birthday, around 11 p.m. Wednesday.

 

Mahi is the daughter of Niraj Uppadhyay, who hails from Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh district. Niraj is a security supervisor at a factory in Manesar and was living in Kasan village with his wife Sonia and two-year old daughter.