A three-year-old girl named Shoumya, daughter of Pintu Sahu, accidentally fell into an open borewell near a village in Madhya Pradesh’s Singrauli district on Monday. The incident occurred around 5 pm while the girl was playing in a field near the village, located about 40km from the district headquarters. According to Bargawan police station inspector Shivpujan Mishra, the borewell is said to be more than 250-feet deep.
Following the incident, officials from various departments immediately launched a rescue operation to pull out the girl from the borewell. A large number of villagers have gathered at the site, anxiously waiting for updates on the rescue efforts. The district collector and superintendent of police have also reached the spot to oversee the operation.
This tragic incident is unfortunately not an isolated case. In June, a one-and-a-half-year-old girl died after falling 50-feet deep into a borewell in Surajpura village, Amreli district, Gujarat. The girl got trapped at a depth of around 50 feet in the 500-feet deep borewell and was brought out in an unconscious state after a 17-hour-long rescue operation involving the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). Despite the efforts, doctors declared her dead upon reaching the hospital.
Similar incidents have also been reported in other parts of India. In May, a five-year-old child was rescued safely after falling into a 40-feet deep borewell in Kanwada village, Alwar district. However, in April, a 6-year-old boy who fell into an open borewell in an agricultural field at Manika village, Rewa district, Madhya Pradesh, was taken out after a 45-hour-long rescue operation, but unfortunately, the rescue teams couldn’t save his life. In Karnataka’s Vijayapura district, a two-year-old toddler was rescued after 20 hours of being trapped in a borewell in Lachyana village of Indi Taluk.
These recurring tragedies highlight the dangers of unsecured borewells and the urgent need for better safety measures to prevent such incidents. The government and relevant authorities need to implement stricter regulations for borewell construction and ensure that all existing borewells are adequately secured to prevent accidental falls, especially in areas where children play and roam freely.
