Staff Correspondent
Rescuers worked for 10 hours until 2 o'clock in the early hours Saturday to pull up a little boy who fell into a 400-foot deep well in the capital's Sahjahanpur area but all efforts went in vain by that time.
A squad of fire fighters along with a team each from WASA, BUET and Civil Defence was leaving no means unturned to rescue the four-year-old Jihad who fell into the hole Friday afternoon.
While the rescue operation was going on, authorities suspended a Railway engineer for negligence of duty. The well, long abandoned, is situated in the Sahjahanpur Railway Colony. The contractor company which worked to dig the well was also blacklisted as the 15- inch-diameter mouth of the well was kept open.
The accident took place at around 3:00pm when Jihad, along with other children, was playing in the playground of the Railway Colony, sources said. The Fire Service and Civil Defence personnel have been trying to rescue the child since Friday afternoon.
Thousands of people gathered at the site to see the rescue operation and the law enforcers were facing an uphill task to keep the onlookers at bay till filing this report at 2:00 am to facilitate the rescue effort.
The hole that is adjacent to a playground at the colony right beside a water pipe of WASA. Three units of fire-fighters arrived at the scene around 4:00pm and started the rescue efforts, said Fire Service control room official Brajen Kumar Sarkar.
Rescuers said they spoke to the boy several times and provided him with some food, water and oxygen.
Fire Service official said, "The child, 'Jihad' fell into the deep hole at Shahjahanpur Railway Colony area while playing with his friends." He said the hole is 400-feet deep. Being informed Fire Service personnel rushed to the spot and is conducting rescue operation.
Three fire fighting units rushed to the spot immediately after the accident and are trying to rescue the boy. The fire fighters made several attempts to bring the boy out of the well using a rope but they were not successful.
It could not be possible to send a rescuer inside the 15-inch diameter pipe which has a two-inch thick shaft inside. According to Fire Service officials, the boy is still alive as they heard him screaming. The operation was going on till filing of this report at 8:50pm.
His father Nasimuddin told journalists that Jihad fell inside the hole around 3:30pm while playing with his friends. Nasiruddin is a security guard at a school in Motijheel.
Mehedi Hasan, Officre-in-Charge (OC) of Shahjahanpur Police Station told The Daily Observer that the several hundred feet deep hole was dug by WASA sometime ago but it was later abandoned. He said the attempts to save Jihad were facing obstruction as the hole was not that wide.