The Trichy Police said on Saturday teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were being rushed from Chennai to assist in rescuing a three-year-old boy who had fallen into a tube well on Friday evening.
Sujith Wilson was playing near his residence at Nadukkattupatt in Trichy district, when he slipped and fell into the tube well, which was 35 feet deep, around 5.30pm. The local police and fire service rushed to the spot to attempt to rescue the child.
The rescuers lowered a device fitted with a camera to monitor Sujith and also allow him to hear his father and uncle reassure him. Sujith was also being supplied with oxygen. Initially, the fire service attempted to drill a tunnel parallel to the tube well in order to construct a shaft and extract Sujith. However, this was abandoned after the rescuers found the rock layer next to the tube well to be very hard.
Tamil Nadu principal secretary Dr J. Radhakrishnan was quoted by media agencies as saying officials were also considering the use of special equipment such as robotic arms to extract Sujith. Health Minister Vijayabaskar, Tourism Minister Vallamandi Natrajan and Minority and Welfare Minister Valarmathi were camping at the site to oversee the rescue efforts.
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Worryingly for the rescuers, Sujith is believed to have fallen further down from the 35-feet tube well.
After news of the incident and rescue operation emerged, social media users created hashtags for Sujith. #SaveSujith and #PrayforSujith have been trending since Saturday morning.