Toddler stuck in borewell: 'Rescue operations challenging,' says TN Minister

State Health Minister C.Vijayabaskar, who was camping in the village and overseeing the rescue efforts, told newsmen this noon that the “rescue operation was very challenging,” as the boy had slipped deeper into the borewell.

He said oxygen was being circulated into the hold through a tube. Though we monitored the movement of hand by the child through a small surveillance camera till early this morning, no such movement was seen thereafter.
The rescue operation was hampered as a portion of mud caved in, this morning he said.

No food or water could be provided to the child after he fell into the borewell.
Chief Minister Edappadi K.Palaniswami called on Mr.Vijabaskar and enquired about the rescue operations.

The boy, B.Sujith Wilson accidentally fell into an unused borewell hole in a corn field adjacent to his house while playing at 0530 hours on Friday evening. He was trapped initially at a depth of about 30 feet, when the rescue operations were launched by the personnel of Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue services department with the assistance of police and local people.

Initially two JCB’s were pressed into service to dig a parallel pit near the borewell to reach the boy. But, however, the effort was stopped as the terrain was rock at a depth of 12 feet.  Drilling the rocks would result in vibrations that may loosen the soil inside the borewell.

Even as professionals and technical experts from various parts of the State made numerous efforts to pull out the boy, but could not succeed as the boy further slipped into the borewell and said to be wedged at a depth of about 70 feet now.

The rescue operation that began at 0615 hours last evening was still continuing almost 19 hours after the incident.

Special teams from the National Disaster Response Force(NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force(SDRF) also joined the rescue operation. They were assisted by police, civil authorities, volunteers and locals.

Tourism Minister Vellamandi N.Natarajan and district collector S.Sivarasu were also camping at the village to coordinate the rescue operation.

Hundreds of people from various parts of the state have assembled around the village and have been praying for the safety of the child.

Meanwhile, the hashtag #savesujith was trending on Twitter as netizens were praying for the rescue of the child.