Chennai: The body of two-year-old boy Sujith Wilson, who was trapped in an abandoned borewell in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruchirappalli district, was taken out early on Tuesday after over 80 hours of rescue efforts.
The decomposed body was sent for postmortem and later handed over to the parents.
The body was laid to rest at a cemetery in the Nadukattupatti village.
As the news of the toddler’s death spread, a pall of gloom descended over the village.
The boy fell into the borewell around 5.30 p.m. on Friday and got stuck at 30 feet. As the rescue efforts began, he slipped and fell further down to about 90 feet.
In his condolence message, Chief Minister K. Palaniswami said it was painful to hear about the death of Wilson despite the day and night rescue efforts that were mounted.
Blaming the AIADMK government for reacting slowly in rescuing the boy, DMK President M.K. Stalin wondered why the army was not called in to save the boy.
Stalin said the government has the land profiles of each district, and whether the underground terrain is rocky or not must be there in the records. But, it took three days for the government to realise that the underground terrain is rocky in Nadukattupatti village.
In her condolence message, Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan said the child’s death has taught the world several lessons.
Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi in a tweet said: “I’m sorry to hear about the passing of baby Sujith. My condolences to his grieving parents and his family.”
Speaking to reporters in the wee hours of Tuesday, J. Radhakrishnan, Principal Secretary, Revenue Administration, Disaster Management and Mitigation department, had said that a foul smell had started emanating from the borewell during the rescue operation.
According to the officials, the borewell into which the boy fell has been closed and the hole drilled near it to rescue the boy would also be closed soon.
On Saturday, the National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force took over the rescue operation as other techniques used in the rescue attempt had failed.
Initially, earthmoving equipment was pressed into service to dig a pit near the borewell to reach the boy. But, it was stopped midway as the terrain was rocky. Later, the rescue team used a special equipment ‘borewell robot’, but that too proved to be unsuccessful.
