Detailed update: Sunday, 8-55 pm
Prince rescued from borewell on birthday, after 50-hour ordeal
Agencies
HALDERA (Kurukshetra), Jul 23: Army engineers pulled out a six-year-old boy, Prince, from a 60-foot deep hole of a submersible well, in which he lay trapped for 50 hours, answering the prayers of millions of Indians.
It was virtually a rebirth for Prince, whose birthday incidentally falls on Sunday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had led the nation in offering prayers for the safety of Prince.
The frantic efforts of the rescue teams of the 65 Engineers Regiment backed by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and the civil and police administration, yielded results this evening, when an Army jawan reached out to touch the boy, who lay crouched in the 16-inch diameter hole.
Prince had been lying in that position since he fell into the hole on Friday evening while playing with friends.
The boy crawled through the tunnel that the engineers dug from a abandoned well, 10 metres away from the hole in which Prince was trapped.
Graphic: Rediff
Much to the joy of his parents, friends and the large number of on-lookers, Prince was taken out of the well with the assistance of a crane.
''Bhagwan ka shukr hai (Thank god),’’ was all that a weeping father and mother could utter as they took their son into their arms.
There was huge relief all around and villagers, who at one stage had given up hope of seeing Prince alive, gave a standing ovation to those who had battled time and nature to achieve the impossible.
Medical teams immediately undertook a thorough check-up of the rescued boy and found that he was in 'fairly good health'. The medical teams will remain in the village to keep a close watch on Prince, the son of a poor farm labourer Ram Chander who thanked all those who had offered prayers for the safety of his son.
Complimenting the efforts of 'his boys', Col SK Vidarthi of the 65 Engineer Regiment said, ''We have achieved the impossible and I am proud of my men''.
He said that his officers and jawans had been at the scene of the ''battle'' since Saturday when the Army was summoned from Ambala Cantonment after the district administration efforts to rescue Prince proved fruitless.
Vidarthi said they had monitored Prince's movements with the help of closed circuit TV cameras. The boy was supplied with water and glucose in the 16-inch wide hole, in which a bulb was lowered to keep track of Prince.
Oxygen was periodically pumped into the hole from a cylinder with the help of a tube to help the boy breath easily.
''Food items were lowered into the well with the help of a rope and at intervals we kept saying a few encouraging words to the boy, so that he did not lose hope and his spirits do not falter,'' the Army officer said.
The Army officials were a worried on Saturday night when the boy failed to respond, but encouraging words from his father and the village folk lifted his spirits and he again began to respond to the voices coming from the mouth of the well hole.
''He was a brave boy and responded positively, which showed his courage in the face of the impossible,'' the colonel said.
Explaining the details of the rescue operation, Vidarthi said that since it was impossible to pull out the boy from above, as the diameter of the well was 16 inches. ''So we located a abandoned well 10 feet away. From here we bore a new tunnel that took us to the submersible well hole and the exact spot where the boy was lying crouched'', the Colonel said.
The army had pressed into service a collar crane to remove the mud and debris of the tunnel that the engineers dug.
Rescue operations were hampered at night due to rain but resumed on Sunday morning.
A team of doctors led by Dr Praveen Garg from Shahbad who had been camping at the spot provided oxygen and glucose to Prince.
Deputy Commissioner TP Sharma and SP Sanjay Kumar also remained at the site to supervise the rescue operations.
The resident of Haldera and nearby villages organised free community kitchens for the rescue teams and others assisting in the operation.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, a number of his ministerial colleagues and local Member of Parliament Naveen Jindal also visited the village to offer their support and assurances to the residents here.
They, along with Governor AK Kidwai, offered prayers for the safety of the trapped boy whom the governor described as '' a brave son of Haryana''.
The governor and the chief minister congratulated the Army for carrying out the operation successfully.
Earlier, while the country is praying for the safe recovery of Prince, stuck in a borewell at Kurukshetra, Mumbai Fire Brigade's expert search and rescue team was dispatched to help him out.
Mumbai Fire Brigade Chief Fire Officer Amarjeet Singh Jhandwal said nine experts had been sent under the leadership of Assistant Divisional Fire Officer Prabhat Rahandale.
"This is the team that saved a one-and-half-year-old child in Gujarat last year from a borewell which was 200 feet deep. Prince should be rescued within a short while, without much difficulty.''
Along with the team, four tonnes of equipment, consisting of cutting, drilling and rope-climbing gear, is being carried for the rescue operation, he said.
The team flew by an Air Force plane. The distance is almost a two-hour flight but they will reach the site in time, he had said.
The Army had been stationed at the spot since 11 am on Saturday.
Breaking News: Sunday, July 23 - 7-46 pm IST
Prince, who had turned six on Sunday, was rescued by an army team and ITBP around 7-46 pm IST on Sunday, July 23.
Newsbits of the rescue operation:
- Rescuers had dug rescue tunnel up to 1 foot of the boy's location
- Army had cordoned off the area to ensure smooth operation
- Prince's medical expenses will be borne by the government, says PM
- Food and sweets were being lowered into the pit for Prince
- Cameras were sent into the pit to keep communication with the boy
- Oxygen cylinders used to avert possibility of asphyxia
- Doctors inspected Prince inside the pit
- Doctors' team at the spot to attend to him and get him out of possible traumatic state
- Villagers in a mood of rejoicing and army personnel expressing relief and contentment
- Haryana chief minister Hooda and other state leaders at the spot supervising the operation
- Prayers had been offered all over the country and abroad in temples, mosques, gurdwaras and churches, which is proof of oneness of Indians
Earlier reports: