A major operation is on to rescue a six-year-old girl from a borewell in Belgavi in Karnataka. National Disaster Response Force team has been put into rescue operations to save Kaveri.
According to the team leader of the rescue operations, the hard soil around the borewell was hampering the rescue operations.
“We have dug a 10-foot tunnel and efforts are on to dig 20-feet more to pull her out of the borewell at the earliest,” an official said.
Officials have called the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team from Pune to launch the rescue operations. Efforts are being made to keep the child alive, said Belagavi Superintendent of Police Ravikanthe Gowda.
The incident took place at Jhunjarawadi village in Athani taluk of Belagavi when Kaveri was playing with her friends near the dry borewell. “Oxygen is being supplied to keep the girl alive, as she was heard crying and efforts are being made to rescue her by all means,” said Gowda, who was present at the spot.
According to officials, the team also attempted to pull out Kaveri with hooks and ropes from the narrow and dark hole but did not succeed. Savitha, the girl’s mother, was rushed to a nearby State-run hospital for treatment after she fainted on learning about her daughter’s plight.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said in Bengaluru that a criminal case would be filed against those responsible for the girl’s accidental fall into the borewell.
“It is the responsibility of the landowner and borewell contractor to inform the gram panchayat about the borewell being open, and (leaving it) without covering or fencing it,”added Siddaramaiah.
BJP president BS Yeddyurappa urged the State Government to take steps to prevent children becoming victims of such open borewells.
“Such a tragedy can be averted if authorities cover the borewell, which dried up due to severe drought and scorching summer in the region,” said Yeddyurappa.