A 10-year-old child has been trapped in a well in a village in India for days. The boy had fallen into the shaft while playing. Because he can neither speak nor hear, the rescue measures are more difficult than they already are.
In India, a ten-year-old boy has been stuck in a narrow well shaft for days. As the police announced on Tuesday, the deaf Rahul Sahu fell into the 24 meter deep well in the courtyard of his parents’ house in the state of Chhattisgarh while playing on Friday. In order to save Rahul, experts from the Indian Disaster Management Agency, with the support of soldiers, are trying to dig a rescue tunnel next to the well shaft.
So far, however, bad weather and venomous snakes and scorpions stirred up during the dig have hampered rescue efforts. Hard rock underground is also slowing down tunnel construction, a government spokesman said.
So far, however, Rahul has “reacted well” to the rescuers, said Janjgir district police chief Vijay Agrawal. It is monitored by a camera lowered into the well shaft and supplied with fresh air via an oxygen line. “Since the boy can neither speak nor hear, we face a great challenge,” said the police chief.
Chhattisgarh Prime Minister Bhupesh Baghel expressed confidence that Rahul can be rescued alive from the well. The boy last ate a banana that the rescuers let down to him, he wrote on Twitter.
Uncovered wells are common in rural Indian villages. Again and again small children die who fall into such wells. In 2019, a two-year-old child was found dead after a four-day rescue operation from a well in northern Punjab state. In the same year, a 1.5-year-old child was rescued in neighboring Haryana State after being stuck in a well for two days.
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Rahul’s case is also reminiscent of the fate of two-year-old Julen in Spain in 2019: the boy fell 100 meters deep into a borehole with a diameter of only 25 centimeters. Julen could only be recovered dead after 13 days.
