2.5-year-old girl dies after falling into 200-foot borewell, pulled out after 10 hours

A two-and-a-half-year-old girl died after falling into a nearly 200-foot-deep borewell while playing in Seehi village here, police said. She was rescued early Monday but was declared dead at a private hospital.

The girl, identified as Neha, was playing with other children near the borewell on Sunday evening when she fell into it. The children had climbed onto a tractor parked nearby, and Neha allegedly slipped from the tractor and fell into the borewell.

After a 10-hour rescue operation, Neha was pulled out at around 4 am and taken to a private hospital, where doctors declared her dead.

“We have kept the body in a mortuary. A postmortem examination will be conducted to reveal the exact cause of her death,” a senior police officer said.

Teams from the Haryana Police, State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Municipal Corporation and Health Department were involved in the rescue operation.

An NDRF official said the team was informed about the incident around 8 pm on Sunday and immediately reached the spot.

The rescue team initially heard the girl crying from inside the borewell, but the sound stopped after some time.

Equipment brought by the rescue team failed to work effectively inside the borewell. Officials then got a tool fabricated at the site with the assistance of a local car mechanic.

SDRF officials said the borewell had been abandoned for several years but had water at a depth of 125 feet, which made the rescue operation more difficult.

The child was trapped upside down at a depth of around 200 feet. After a prolonged effort, rescuers managed to pull her out by her legs, but she could not be saved.

Residents of Sector-8 blamed civic authorities for the incident, alleging that the borewell had not been properly sealed.

However, Sanjeev Kumar, executive engineer of the Municipal Corporation, Faridabad, said the borewell had been covered with a lid around 15 years ago. He said the corporation had not received any information about the lid being removed.

“The matter would be investigated and action would be taken in accordance with the rules against those found to be negligent,” he added.  (with inputs from PTI)