Close to 36 hours after she fell into an open borewell pit in Telangana, authorities were still unable to rescue a 18-month-old girl from the deep hole.
The incident took place on Thursday night, when Chinnari, the daughter of a migrant labourer Yadaiah, fell into an abandoned borewell in Ekkareddyguda village in the state's Ranga Reddy district.
According to reports, there was no response from the child after Friday afternoon, even as officials continued to pump oxygen in the hole.
Hopes also began to dwindle, as the digging of a parallel pit continued. Light rain also lashed the area in the evening, which made rescue operations harder.
Rescuers even tried to deploy robotic hand clips to pull out the baby, but it was of no use.
Meanwhile, almost the entire village had gathered at the spot and even got into confrontations with the police and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) officials, who did not allow them near the pit.
“We are ready to even go inside the borewell to bring out the baby. Are you ready to take such risks? All that we want is to see the girl come out safe. We'll wait longer," a woman was quoted as saying.
On Friday, it also came to light that the borewell was an illegal one and not accounted for by the state government's Revenue Department.
"A case of negligence will be booked against the owner of the borewell. The owner removed the cover and lowered the pump due to recent rain hoping for recharge of the borewell. He failed to take precautions," Ranga Reddy district collector M Raghunandan Rao told TOI.
On Thursday night, the Cyberabad police and the NDRF had rushed to the spot soon after the incident happened.
According to reports, mining experts from Singareni Collieries also joined in rescuing the baby girl.
The tragic incident took place when the girl was playing in the fields along with her elder sister Akshita, while their parents were at work.
The elder sister immediately alerted the parents, who then informed the police.
Soon after the police, the local RDO reached the spot along with fire tenders, an ambulance and excavators.
TOI earlier reported that locals who gathered at the spot, could hear screams of the girl, which confirmed that the baby was still alive.
“As a first step, oxygen is being pumped into the borewell to ensure she breathes easily,” State Transport Minister P. Mahender Reddy earlier told The Hindu after confirming the child is alive.
Reddy was attending an iftar nearby, and rushed to the spot after hearing the news.
Earth-moving machines began digging a parallel pit near the borewell in the hopes of rescuing the child on Thursday night itself, but to no avail.
Meanwhile, Balala Hakkula Sangham, an NGO, has demanded criminal cases to be booked against the revenue officials concerned.