Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (NR)

Mangalore June 20: Kerala-based businessman Shibu (38) had to spend an entire night in a 40-feet open well, after he accidentally fell into it in darkness, here on Monday. June 18.

The incident took place when Shibu, instead of alighting at Kankanady railway station got down at Bajal Padil a kilometer away from the station. Unable to navigate his way in pitch darkness, he slipped into the open well. He kept screaming for help, even while managing to keep his head above water. However, his cries for help were drowned owing to the heavy rains. In the wee hours on Tuesday, one of the neighbours did spot him in the well but assuming him to be a thief, left him inside to his misery without helping him out.

At the outbreak of dawn, all the neighbours gathered and decided to hand him over to the police. One of them informed the Kankanady police station, who in turn informed the fire department which immediately sent a team to rescue the youth who had by then spent more than eight hours in chilly water in the open well. The youth disoriented from his watery ordeal proved his innocence by narrating his tale and showing his railway ticket to the police. He was rushed to the Wenlock Hospital for treatment and discharged later in the afternoon.

However, a little timely help could have prevented him from this eight hour ordeal.