Nayagarh: An 11-year-old boy was rescued alive after being trapped for nearly 10 hours inside a narrow rock crevice on a hill in Nayagarh district on Wednesday, officials said.
The minor, identified as Shiva Pradhan, was pulled out by Fire service personnel following an intensive rescue operation in the Kanipada forest area near Chorakhol hill under the Odagaon police limits.
According to officials, Shiva had accompanied his uncle, Ram Pradhan, to the hilltop early in the morning to collect honey. While attempting to retrieve a honeycomb lodged deep inside a rock crevice, the boy crawled in headfirst but got stuck and was unable to free himself.
Unable to rescue him, his uncle Ram Pradhan rushed back to the village and alerted locals and the fire services. The site of the incident was located about 3 km from the village and nearly 250 feet above ground level.
Fire service teams from Odagaon, Nayagarh, and Bhubaneswar reached the spot and carried out a coordinated operation for nearly eight hours before safely extricating the child.
The boy was immediately shifted to the Odagaon Community Health Centre for treatment. His condition is reported to be stable.
The rescue operation drew a large crowd, with over 300 people gathering at the hill, anxiously awaiting updates and praying for the boy’s safety. Family members, including his mother, were seen in distress during the prolonged operation.
In a dramatic twist, a large python was spotted barely 15 feet from the crevice during the rescue, but it did not pose any threat to the trapped child.
Ram Pradhan, who earns his livelihood by collecting and selling forest honey, had taken his nephew along as part of his routine work when the incident occurred.
