Bhubaneswar/Raipur: Rahul Sahu, the 11-year-old boy who had fallen into an 80-feet deep abandoned borewell at Pihrid village in Chhattisgarh’s Janjgir-Champa district on Friday, was rescued safely, at 11:58 pm on Tuesday night.
On the occasion, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel Tweeted:
माना कि चुनौती बड़ी थी
हमारी टीम भी कहाँ शांत खड़ी थीरास्ते अगर चट्टानी थे
तो इरादे हमारे फौलादी थेसभी की दुआओं और रेस्क्यू टीम के अथक, समर्पित प्रयासों से राहुल साहू को सकुशल बाहर निकाल लिया गया है।
वह जल्द से जल्द पूर्ण रूप से स्वस्थ हो, ऐसी हमारी कामना है। pic.twitter.com/auL9ZMoBP7
— Bhupesh Baghel (@bhupeshbaghel) June 14, 2022
Rahul fell into the abandoned borewell located in the backyard of his house on Friday. Teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Indian Army, local Police and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), battled for more than 100 hours, to pull Rahul out to safety.
People involved in the rescue operations said the boy, was breathing but was not showing movement inside the borewell. The Government created a green corridor to shift the child, who is differently abled, to a Bilaspur hospital after he was rescued. Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel was personally monitoring the entire situation from the get-go.
“Asking for food was the only sign Rahul showed on Tuesday. Apart from this, any movement was barely noticed,” a person involved in the rescue operation said. A pipe was installed for oxygen supply in the borewell. The administration started digging a 70-feet pit parallel to the borewell on Friday evening and a 15-feet tunnel to connect the pit with the borewell.
The presence of dolomite stones hampered the work of digging a tunnel. The drilling of rocks was on since Monday evening. Around 50 excavating machines including tractors, transporting trucks, and drilling machines are being used in the rescue operation.
The rescue teams, comprising over 500 personnel, including officials from the NDRF and the Army, worked continuously, using advanced machines and vehicles to evacuate the child safely. Nearly a dozen IAS and IPS officers were also deployed by the Chhattisgarh government in the village to overview the situation on the ground.