When five-year-old Prince Kumar slipped into a 53 feet deep and nine inches wide hole, he caused one of the most frantic
and painstaking rescue operations in recent times. When he was brought out after a 50 hour long rescue operation, he had turned one year older.
On Friday evening, Prince slipped into a hole while playing with other kids near his home. The hole had been created a month earlier by a contractor drilling for water in this parched village. The quest for water proved fruitless, but the hole -- rather than being properly covered -- had been papered over by two sandbags.
Immediately after Prince fell into the hole, the
villagers lowered a rope to get him out. The kid tried holding on but his hands gave away after 25 feet and he slipped back into the hole.
Thereafter, the villagers used a tractor to create a parallel hole nearby. That initiative also failed. By 9 pm, the villagers had come to the conclusion that it would be better to dig a hole in a dry well, about eight feet away from the hole.
The well, now used to dump trash, was 20 feet deep. By Saturday morning, the villagers had already cleaned it by another 15 feet.
Rescue teams passed biscuits, chocolates, and bottles of glucose drink down the shaft and monitored the boy on closed-circuit television.
Oxygen also was pumped into the pit to sustain the child and his
parents spoke to him frequently, telling him help was on its way.
The Army, which arrived on Saturday morning, brought a huge military crane which quickened the process of digging the parallel hole. By 6 am on Sunday morning, the well had been dug down to 55 feet.
A connecting passageway was then dug between the two holes by Army personnel with the help of local people. Finally, late in the evening, Prince was brought out of the well alive.
Prince's ordeal dominated news channels all day and captivated the viewing nation. Special prayers for the boy were held in Hindu temples, Muslim mosques, Christian churches, and Sikh places of worship across India.
Prince is reported to be responding well to treatment at a local hospital. Doctors have said that he does not seem to suffer from any external or internal injuries. However, he is not speaking to anyone except his parents.
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