It was 5.30 am, close to 12 hours since 2-year-old Sujith had fallen deep into a borewell dug on his father's property. As rescue personnel gathered around the narrow hole devising a way to pull the child out, his mother and father took turns to speak into a mic to the child, to offer reassurance.
The couple from Trichy district may have kept their voices calm for the sake of the child, but when the mother, Kalai Mary, moved away she was repeatedly bursting into tears. Despite the trauma, when rescue personnel at the site opined that a cloth bag could come of use to lift the child from the borewell, she immediately offered to help. Aware that all the neighbourhood tailors would be unavailable at that hour, the mother of the trapped child sat in front of a tailoring machine herself to stitch the cloth bag.
A photo of her bent over the wooden table, first tweeted by the New Indian Express, working away on a white cloth has been shared extensively on social media. The picture is a testament to the family's hope and bravery in this time of devastation.
While, the officials are trying to rescue on one side, Sujiths mother, Kalairani on the request of rescue officials has started striching a cloth bag in which they hope to bring Sujith up after expanding it inside the borewell. #SaveSujith @xpresstn @NewIndianXpress pic.twitter.com/btcu4eGuJq
— Jayakumar Madala (@JayakumarMadala) October 26, 2019
As of 5.30 pm, it will be 24 hours since the child fell into the borewell. Reports quoted state Health Minister C Vijayabhaskar, who is at the spot and is overseeing rescue operations, saying that no sound has been heard from the boy since 5 am.
Sujith was playing near the abandoned borewell on his father's property when he slipped and fell inside. Visuals from the scene show just the boy’s head and hands inside the narrow shaft of the borewell.
Principal Secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan explained that one out of two methods would be used to help rescue the boy. In the first, a parallel tunnel would be dug and a transverse path would be created to move the boy while in the other, special equipment such as robotic arms would be used to remove the boy from the well.