The ten-year-old deaf man was freed through a rescue tunnel. Bad weather, venomous snakes and scorpions that were agitated during the excavation hampered rescue efforts.
In India, rescuers rescued a ten-year-old boy from a narrow well after four days. Deaf Rahul Sahu was “safely rescued thanks to everyone’s prayers and the tireless efforts of the rescue team,” the prime minister of Chhattisgarh state wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. The boy fell into the 24-meter-deep well in his parents’ yard on Friday.
Jeetendra Shukla, head of the local district administration, told reporters the boy was “alive but weak” and was taken to a nearby hospital. A snake was seen in the well, but the boy “showed exemplary courage” and remained calm, he added.
Snakes and scorpions make rescue difficult
With the support of the military, the civil protection excavated a tunnel next to the well for the rescue. Bad weather, venomous snakes and scorpions, which were expelled during the excavation, hampered rescue efforts. Underground hard rock has also slowed tunnel construction, a government spokesman said.
The boy was monitored through a camera lowered into the well and supplied with fresh air through an oxygen line. The fact that he could not speak or hear made the rescue operation even more difficult.
Uncovered wells are common in rural Indian villages. Children who fall into such pits repeatedly die. In 2019, a two-year-old was found dead after a four-day rescue operation in a well in northern Punjab state. In the same year, a 1.5-year-old was rescued in neighboring Haryana state after being trapped in a well for two days.
Remembering the Julen case
Rahul’s case also recalls the fate of two-year-old Julen in Spain in 2019: the boy fell 100 meters deep into a well with a diameter of just 25 centimeters. Julen could only be recovered dead after 13 days.
(APA/AFP)