A four-year-old boy, who fell into a 220-foot-deep borewell in Haryana's Ambala district, was pulled out dead early Wednesday following a 21-hour rescue operation.
Nirvair Singh was taken out from the borewell at around 3.40 am and shifted to the Civil Hospital in Ambala Cantonment.
Dr. Rishipal Singh, a Medical Officer at the Civil Hospital, said a preliminary examination was conducted at the scene immediately after the child was retrieved.
Finding no signs of life, he was brought to the hospital, where necessary tests were performed. However, he had already passed away. The body has been kept at the mortuary for a postmortem examination.
The exact cause and time of death will be known once a postmortem report is received, Singh said.
The incident occurred at around 6.30 am on Tuesday in Dhaneora village of Ambala district when Nirvair had accompanied his father, Manjit Singh, to the fields to deliver food to his grandfather, Karnail Singh.
After reaching the field, Manjit Singh began working while Nirvair, who had been sitting near his grandfather, soon wandered off to play. He noticed an open borewell and began throwing soil into it. The wet soil around the borewell is believed to have given way as he leaned over to look inside, causing him to slip and fall.
Manjit Singh said they heard a loud sound and immediately rushed to the borewell, calling out to the child. The family and nearby villagers initially tried to rescue him on their own but alerted the authorities at around 7.30 am when their efforts failed.
Deputy Commissioner Ajay Singh Tomar and other administrative officials soon reached the spot, following which rescue teams launched an extensive operation.
Tomar said the administration acted immediately after receiving information about the incident and mobilised emergency response teams.
The National Disaster Response Force, Army and district administration tried best to rescue the child alive but they could not achieve success. He said rain in the area also disrupted the rescue operation.
Village Sarpanch Kaptan Singh said Manjit Singh works in the electricity department. Manjit and his wife, Jasbir Kaur, also have an elder daughter.
Nirvair had been enrolled in nursery class at a school in the nearby village of Bhanokhedi just this year.
One of the relatives said that Nirvair had gone to his maternal grandmother's house during the summer holidays and returned only on Monday as his school was to reopen on July 1.
Haryana Cabinet minister Anil Vij also visited the site on Tuesday evening to review the rescue operation and met the child's family.
The deputy commissioner had said on Tuesday that the police had been directed to initiate action as per rules against those responsible for leaving the borewell open.
Tomar urged farmers not to leave borewells uncovered, saying the tragedy could have been prevented had the borewell been properly sealed.
Last month, a four-year-old boy in Punjab's Hoshiarpur district was rescued after falling into a newly dug borewell near his house. He was trapped at a depth of around 20 to 30 feet and was pulled out safely following a nearly nine-hour rescue operation involving multiple agencies and local volunteers.
In 2006, a five-year-old boy, Prince, was rescued after a massive 48-hour operation when he fell into a borewell in a village in Haryana's Kurukshetra district, an incident that had grabbed headlines.
