Pics courtesy: Associated Press
July 24, 2006
Prince, the little boy from Haldheri village in Haryana who fell into a tube well shaft, celebrated his birthday all alone at the bottom of the 60-foot hole. The six-year-old spent more than two days in the darkness before Armymen rescued him. In pic: Soldiers carry Prince after he was rescued from the 60-foot-deep hole.
He had fallen into the deep, narrow shaft, which had been dug for a submersible tube well and then left uncovered, when he was playing with his friends. Experts from the 65 Engineer Regiment of the Army`s Ambala-based 2 Corps supervised the rescue operation, aided by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, the civil and police administration. In pic: An unidentified person hands over toys to Ram Chander, Prince`s father.
Since the hole was too narrow to pull the boy up, Army personnel dug a 56-feet deep, 15-feet wide parallel tunnel from a dried up well that was present alongside the shaft. The entire ordeal lasted 50 hours.
In pic: Soldiers carry Prince after he was rescued.
The Army`s biggest fear was that the earth around the tunnel would collapse because of the large crowds at the venue. Around 7 p.m. on Sunday, an Army jawan finally reached the little boy and handed him food and glucose. In pic: Prince is carried by his father after he was rescued.
Crowds broke into applause as a crane hoisted Prince, who was wrapped in a white sheet and carried by a soldier, from the shaft. A doctor, who was waiting on site, examined him and said he would need counselling to overcome the trauma. In pic: Villagers and police officers applaud the rescue of Prince.
Prince looked dazed as he was handed over to his mother Karamjit. The boy did not seem to be in pain. Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has announced a grant of Rs 2 lac for the boy.
In pic: Karamjit prays as she watches the rescue of her son on closed circuit television.
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