An 18-year-old girl who fell into a 540-foot-deep borewell and was rescued after more than 33 hours in Gujarat’s Kutch district was declared dead at a hospital here on Tuesday, officials said. The girl fell into the borewell at Kanderai village in Bhuj taluka around 6.30 am on Monday and was stuck at a depth of 490 feet, prompting the administration to launch a multi-agency rescue operation.

According to officials, the borewell had a diameter of one foot, and the fact that she was grown up and stuck deep into it made the rescue efforts difficult. The teenager was brought out at around 4 pm.

“Unfortunately, the girl could not survive and was declared dead by doctors at GK General Hospital in Bhuj,” said AB Jadav, assistant collector and SDM, Bhuj. The official said the teen was brought out using a “hook technique”, wherein L and J-shaped hooks were lowered into the borewell, fitted on two sides and pressure was applied from below to pull her up.

An official from the state water supply and sewerage board said the girl was rescued using a makeshift contraption. “We prepared a makeshift contraption with the help of local drillers. Multiple agencies were involved in the rescue operation,” he said.

Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Border Security Force (BSF) were involved in the rescue operation along with the fire department personnel of the Bhuj municipality, local emergency response team, police and officials of the local administration.