Rescuers pump in oxygen into a well shaft and try to recover what they thought was a child trapped in it. Tying a sack at the end of a rope, they lower it down at Shahjahanpur Railway Colony in the capital yesterday. Photo: Palash Khan Despite over 10 hours' frantic efforts, the rescuers could not yet get a sight of the four-year-old boy said to have been trapped at the bottom of a deep well in th
e capital's Shahjahanpur yesterday. As a camera probed the well shaft, the nation waited anxiously with their fingers crossed and eyes glued to the live TV. Around 2:00am today, the camera completed its slide into the hole but there was no sign of the boy. The monitor showed some ragged clothes only. The latest development gave rise to speculations whether the child fell at all into the well at Shahjahanpur Railway Colony. There was confusion also about the depth of the well. The state minister for home said it was about 253 feet while some individuals who too sent a camera down the pit put the depth at over 600 feet. The fire brigade personnel employed various techniques one after another, including lowering in a sack tied with a rope, hoping to pull out the boy but failed till 2:40am today. “We are yet to find the boy. But we are still trying and we will lower in the camera again,” fire service Director General Brig Gen Ali Ahmed Khan told reporters at 3:00am at the site. As of 3:35am, rescue efforts were on. Advertisement The boy was identified only as Jihad, son of a local school guard Nasiruddin. The child fell inside the 17-inch diameter shaft, around 40 yards from his house, around 4:00pm while playing with other children, according to a child who was playing with the group. The borehole reinforced with steel pipe would be used for pumping out underground water but had been abandoned for around a year with allegedly no lid. Experts of fire service and Wasa were chalking out rescue plans. Earlier in the evening, Juice packets were sent and oxygen was being pumped into the hole to keep him alive. But it could not be known if the boy took the juice. People present there said they could hear whimpers and cries of a baby from inside the well. The authorities were yet to decide to send any rescuers inside the well. One volunteer named Bashir Ahmed wanted to enter the well on his own, but authorities did not allow him as he was not a trained rescuer. Around 1:00am preparation was underway to drop a “catcher” to grab the boy and pull him up. “We are trying our best. We will use modern technology to rescue the boy,” the fire service DG said. General people in their hundreds and journalists in their dozens crowded the rescue site in a way that rescuers found it difficult to move freely. It looked like a chaotic scene rather than an accident site, with TV journalists breathing virtually on the neck of the rescue officials. Police did not cordon off the area. At one stage, fire brigade officials through a loud speaker urged journalists and onlookers to keep away from the site, but to no avail. State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam through his Facebook page made the same request with the same result. Rescuers lower a camera into the well and reach the bottom around 2:00am today only to find no sign of the child. Photo: Collected/Palash Khan Belal Hossain, who first informed the fire service of the boy's fall, said while he was going to his shop by the playground around 4:10pm, a little girl named Fatema ran to him and said one of her playmates had fallen inside the hole. He immediately raised an alarm to gather more people. They tried to pull out the boy using a rope but failed. Around 4:35pm, Belal informed the firemen, who quickly reached the spot. Major AKM Shakil Newaz, director (operations) of the fire service, was overseeing the rescue efforts conducted by six fire fighting units. Hours before, they use a crane to extract a narrow pipe from the well shaft at Shahjahanpur Railway Colony. Photo: Collected/Palash Khan Meanwhile, senior sub-assistant engineer of Bangladesh Railway Jahangir Alam was suspended for negligence in duty. The contractor firm responsible for plugging the hole was blacklisted. State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, BNP leader Mirza Abbas, Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique, and DMP Commissioner Benzir Ahmed, among others, visited the spot.
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