Boy in borewell, rescue efforts on

TIRUNELVELI: A four-and-half-a-year-old boy fell into a borewell near Nanguneri near Tirunelveli on Wednesday. Rescue efforts were going on till late in the night.Sudarsan, of Kailasanathapuram near INS Kattabomman, South Vijayanaranam, is the son of Sermadurai and Malika.  A businessman, who had bought the land surrounding the Malaiarasan temple of which Sudarsan’s father Sermadurai is the ‘darmakartha’, had dug a borewell near the temple on Tuesday. But he had failed to close it. On Wednesday around 9.30 am, Sudarsan and a 3-year-old girl, said to be his relative, were playing near the temple, when Sudarsan accidentally fell into the pit. On information, Fire Service personnel, officials from INS Kattabomman and police rushed to the spot and started rescue operations.DFO Padmarajan said, “we reached the spot at around 11.30 am along with 108 EMS vehicle. Immediately, we provided oxygen to the boy. First, we used a JCB and poclaine to remove the sand. But at present, we are using a borewell machine to dig a parallel pit to a depth of 15-20 feet at which the boy is stuck.”  Assistant DFO R Kumaresan said that the outer pit size was around 8 inches in diameter. The level increases as it goes deeper. The pit itself is around 250 feet. “As they did not strike water, they finished the work and went away without covering the pit,” he informed.  Other sources at the spot said that around 12.30 pm, a specialised ‘victim search system’ camera was used to see whether the boy was well. At that time, the camera showed that the boy was moving around. But after 1 pm, there were no movements.