A 14-month-girl, who accidentally fell into a 40-feet deep open borewell in neighbouring Vikarabad district last evening, is believed to have slid down further, even as efforts are underway to save the child, police said today.
The child of a farm labourer slipped into the borewell, located in an agricultural field in the district's Ekkareddyguda village, at around 7:15 PM on Thursday while she was playing with her elder sister.
According to a revenue department official, the land owner had apparently kept the borewell open to fix a motor.
Police said the rescue operation was briefly affected due to rains this afternoon.
While a parallel trench was dug along the borewell hole with the help of earth excavating machines, the girl slipped down further due to the vibrations caused by the digging work, Cyberabad Police Commissioner Sandeep Shandilya said.
"Despite rains, digging work is going on and we have reached a depth of 22 feet. Due to rains and the rocky terrain, there is slow progress (on digging). We will first go up to 40 feet," he said.
Shandilya said the girl who was visible from atop yesterday, is not visible now.
"The kid is not visible now...Anyhow we will continue with the rescue operation till we locate her," he said.
The officer said the cameras of the NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) team, deployed at the spot, which can go to a depth of 90-feet, will be used to locate the girl.
Telangana Transport Minister P Mahendar Reddy, who has been supervising the rescue operations since last night, said authorities from different departments were making all efforts to extricate the child.
He expressed hope that the rescue operation will be over in another seven hours.
Authorities involved in the operation had used a robotic equipment to reach the girl.
"Efforts are on to save the girl...Oxygen is being supplied into the borewell," Chevella police station sub-inspector, N Sridhar Reddy told PTI.
A camera was put inside the borewell to monitor the child and ambulances are also kept on standby with a team of doctors, he said.
In October 2014, a four-year-old girl died after accidentally falling into a 300 feet-deep borewell at Manchal village in Telangana's Ranga Reddy district.
The police and officials from different departments had then carried out a massive operation for three days to save the child, but the girl's decomposed body was later located at a depth of 45 feet.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
