By IANS
Jaipur : Oxygen was being pumped into the 180 ft deep pit, heavy machinery deployed to drill a parallel tunnel and the army called in… but with three days gone time was running out Friday for three-year-old Suraj lying unconscious in the dark, airless borewell.
Hundreds of people gathered at the site in Nimedi village, about 30 km from here, praying for the child's safety and giving his parents, labourers Om Prakash and Prem Devi, courage to go on.
Suraj had fallen into the narrow, eight-inch pipe Wednesday evening while playing and rescue efforts have been underway since with local administration and the army working day and night to lift him out.
But could it be a losing battle?
That was the question as the hours slipped by.
"We initially started to dig a parallel hole near the borewell. Now we are trying to loosen the soil near the borewell by drilling in a bid to pull the boy out of the ditch," a senior government official said.
The rescue bid received a setback on Thursday when the crane engaged in drilling a parallel pit on Thursday evening collapsed, injuring two persons.
Army had deployed seven digging machines, seven tractors and a fire tender to get closer to the boy.
Oxygen is being pumped into the borewell to keep Suraj alive. However, the CCTV footage shows no movement and he looks unconscious.
But hope still lives on.
"I am here to pray for the safety of this child," said Heera Devi, a resident of nearby village.
"His mother had become unconscious after hearing the news. She was admitted in the hospital. We all have come here to stand behind this family in troubled times and we are confident that the child will be safe and sound," said Om Prakash, who runs a grocery shop in Jaipur.
This is not the first such case.
In a widely publicised case, a five-year-old child called Prince was rescued in Kurukshetra, Haryana, in July last year after a dramatic rescue operation.
Since then, there have been at least two other similar incidents in Ahmedabad and Rajasthan.