A six-year-old boy, who fell into an open borewell in Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa district two days back, was pulled out dead on April 14, bringing a gloomy end to a multi-agency rescue operation that lasted for over 40 hours, swaying between hope and despair. The incident prompted Chief Minister Mohan Yadav to order suspension of two senior officials from Janpad Teonthar for alleged negligence.
The child, identified as Mayank Kol, fell into the borewell in Manika village, located close to the Uttar Pradesh border, at around 3 p.m. on April 12 when he was playing near it. He was stuck at a depth of around 40 feet, officials said.
“Despite continuous and tireless efforts of the authorities, we could not save the innocent child, Mayank,” Chief Minister Mohan Yadav tweeted on April 14.
Teams of the State Disaster Emergency Response Force (SDERF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and local administration launched a rescue operation which involved supplying oxygen into the 70-feet-deep borewell and digging parallel pits to reach the boy.
Hopes of the child’s parents rose briefly when he was located on April 14 morning by rescuers.
“The boy was located at around 8 a.m. We made all efforts but could not save the child as the borewell was too narrow,” Collector Pratibha Pal told reporters at the spot.
Meanwhile, CM Yadav ordered the suspension of two officials.
“Fixing the accountability in the case, instructions have been given to suspend Chief Executive Officer of Janpad Teonthar and Sub Divisional Officer of Public Health Engineering, Teonthar,” Yadav tweeted.
Expressing pain and sorrow over the incident, the chief minister said the Red Cross has provided financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh to the family of the victim.
“In this hour of grief, the Madhya Pradesh government stands by Mayank’s family,” he added.
Mr. Yadav appealed to people to keep borewells covered to avoid such incidents in future.
Ironically, Kol’s death is not an isolated incident. In March 2023, an eight-year-old boy fell into a 60-foot-deep borewell in the State’s Vidisha district. He was rescued after 24 hours but could not survive.
In a similar incident in December 2023, a four-year-old girl was rescued from a borewell in Rajgarh district of the State but died in a hospital within a few hours.
