The Hindu : National : Hectic efforts to save child

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Friday, Jul 06, 2007
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National

Hectic efforts to save child

Special Correspondent

JAIPUR: Efforts to save a five-year-old boy, who fell into a 150-foot-deep borewell at Nimeda village, 35 km from near here, were hampered on Thursday night after a crane toppled over and crushed two labourers engaged in the rescue operation.

One of them was rushed to hospital in a critical condition and the machine was pulled out of a ditch into which it fell.

However, labourers digging a parallel pit to reach the trapped boy abandoned the work demanding safety measures. The rescue teams of the Army and civil administration are waiting for a new group to arrive at the site.

Suraj Banjara fell into the borewell on Wednesday evening. After an overnight rescue operation, his cries could be heard from a hole on the ground till Thursday afternoon. Oxygen was pumped into the borewell to facilitate breathing and power supply arrangements were made at the site.

A CCTV footage showed Suraj as either sleeping or lying unconscious, but work stoppage heightened the concern for the boy’s safety, eyewitnesses said.

Chief Medical Officer Ashish Sharma, who was monitoring the child’s health through CCTV images, said he was hopeful of his survival as his respiration seemed to be normal.

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