Rain and rocky terrain hamper rescue of two-year old from a depth of 100 feet

The Herculean effort being made to rescue Sujith, the two-year old who fell into an unused borewell while running close to his house, is making agonisingly slow progress with rescuers having dug up to 40 feet next to the borewell by Monday morning. The boy is believed to be stuck at the 90 feet level.

While officials claim that the new rig borrowed from L & T is capable to digging five feet an hour, it is proving difficult because of the rocks and the incessant rain that has been lashing the area, they concede.

They are planning to dig a parallel well up to 100 feet before digging a horizontal tunnel in an effort to reach the boy.

On Monday morning also, the rescue effort suffered because of heavy rain, they point out.

The toddler fell into the borewell around 5.30 pm on Friday while running between the family house and a relative’s house some 100 meters away. The incident was initially missed because of the standing maize crop.

Tragically, while the boy had initially fallen to a depth of only 10 feet and his cries drew attention of the family and relatives, he subsequently fell to a depth of 90 feet.

His inconsolable mother for some time was seen shouting into the borewell, asking Sujith not to cry and to reassure him that help was at hand. The hysterical lady was led away but insisted on sewing a bag, which she believed could be lowered in an effort to bring the boy up.

Grim officials have been pumping in oxygen into the borewell in an effort to keep the boy alive. But they concede that with every passing hour, the hope of rescuing the boy alive is getting dimmer. The site has been thronged by people from different and far off places , as far as Salem, to see the rescue effort.

As the nation prays for Sujith, the dramatic and riveting rescue effort has drawn the attention of Rahul Gandhi, actor Kamal Haasan and others. Rahul Gandhi tweeted,