Karnataka: Another borewell tragedy! 6-year-old still trapped

Belagavi: Intense efforts are underway to pull out six-year-old Kaveri Madar who has been trapped in an abandoned borewell at a farm in Junjarwad village of Athani taluk in Belagavi district since Saturday evening.

Kaveri slipped and fell into the borewell while playing with her brother and elder sister and is stuck at a depth of 20 feet. Doctors and rescue teams lowered a robot with a camera into the defunct borewell but the operation suffered a jolt because of rock and hard soil which they encountered while digging a parallel trench to reach the girl. Now, another borewell is being dug to reach her through a horizontal tunnel instead of blasting the rock with explosives.

Farmer Shankar Hipparagi had drilled the 400-feet borewell in his agricultural land a few years ago and left it abandoned after it dried up due to failure of the monsoon. He is at large ever since the tragedy occurred as the state government had warned of strict action against farm owners if they failed to fill defunct borewells.

The staff of National Disaster Relief Force from Pune, Hatti Gold Mines, fire brigade and police officials are working round the clock to rescue the child. They have removed soil which had fallen on the girl with the help of a sucking machine. After this, her hand and clothes are visible through the camera. Several attempts made to pull out the girl with hooks and ropes have failed.

Savita, the mother of the child, is inconsolable and is being treated at the adjacent Kukanur primary health centre due to high blood pressure as she has stopped eating. Belagavi district in-charge minister Ramesh Jarakiholi, the district deputy commissioner and superintendent of police have been monitoring the rescue operation.

“We have taken all precautionary measures to prevent the girl from falling below 20 feet. We have also stepped up rescue work. We are hopeful of rescuing the girl,” said fire brigade officer Fakkirappa Kalakundi.