A three-year-old boy fell into a 25-foot-deep borewell in Kidian Gandial Meera village, located in Kathua district of J&K on the border with Punjab, late on Thursday evening but was rescued within 15 minutes by his neighbours.
The child, Pardeep, suffered two fractures on his leg and is now recuperating in a private hospital in Sarna, 5 km from Pathankot city.
Pathankot Deputy Commissioner Ramvir visited the hospital on Friday morning and talked to the doctors for nearly an hour.
“The boy is stable now. The tragedy occurred within the jurisdiction of Kathua district but because the village is located near Pathankot, Pardeep’s parents decided to get him treated here. The child has suffered two fractures and there are also some facial injuries. However, he is not in danger and will be discharged within a day or two,” said the DC.
The physician treating him, Dr JS Randhawa, said that the child suffered femur fractures at two places and some abrasions due to a freefall.
The boy’s father, Bittu, told The Tribune that late yesterday night he gave some money to both his sons — Pardeep and Geru — and asked them to buy something for themselves from the confectionary shop located near their house.
“However, when they were returning, Pardeep kept his foot on a tarpaulin sheet not knowing that it was covering a freshly dug borewell.
“Unable to take the child’s weight, the tarpaulin gave in and with it the toddler fell into the pit.
“Geru came running to me and informed that Pardeep had fallen in the borewell. I informed the villagers and a rescue operation immediately commenced,” said Bittu.
Various theories were floated on how to bring out Pardeep from the depths.
“Time was running out and finally a neighbour volunteered to go inside the dug up area after he tied himself with a rope, one end of which was held by villagers. Slowly but steadily, he clawed his way in and after a couple of minutes he brought out my son,” added Bittu.
Rumours flew thick and fast and one was that the incident happened in Pathankot district.
A few days ago, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had ordered the closure of all open borewells in the state after a two-year-old boy, Fatehveer Singh, had fallen in one of them in Bhagwanpura village of Sangrur district.
He was pulled out dead after five days of rescue operations.