As the entire state of Tamil Nadu waited with bated breath to hear about the rescue of Sujith, the effort put in by the SDRF, NDRF and other government agencies to save the two-year-old went in vain. Sujith Wilson's body was retrieved from the borewell after three days. It is feared that the boy had been dead for sometime as the body had started decomposing, according Principal Secretary J. Radhakrishnan.
Sujith, who was playing near his home in Nadukattupatti village in Tiruchi district, had fallen into the borewell dug by the family. Confirming the tragic news, Radhakrishnan told the media, “At around 9. 30 pm, we got a report that a decomposed smell was emanating from the original borewell. We sent a medical team inside. NDRF, SDRF and fire service teams also went in. They told us that unfortunately the body had ‘highly decomposed’. Final observations are ongoing. We have stopped digging.” The body was retrieved at 4.30 am on Tuesday.
Rescue operations, which began on Friday, became very difficult as mud started slipping in. The boy, who had initially fallen to a depth of 26 feet, fell further to 85 feet after rescue operations began. It became increasingly difficult as the area had a rocky terrain. The NDRF, SDRF, fire service and several other rescue teams could not make much progress due to rock sediments, which later eroded, causing the boy to fall further down. The rescue team, which began to dig a hole parallel to the borewell on Saturday, had to stop due to the rocks. Four separate robotic teams were also brought in for the same.
Venkatesh from Chennai, Sridhar from Coimbatore, Daniel from Namakkal and Manikandan from Madurai came in with their robotic devices to save Sujith. However, mud started slipping into the hole, rendering all efforts futile. Efforts to pull the child with a rope around his wrist also failed as Sujith could not hold the rope.
Another parallel hole was dug on Sunday with the help of L&T and ONGC rigs. Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam visited the spot and said that digging will go on till Monday morning and Sujith will be rescued safely. But the drilling progressed in a very slow pace. Then it was almost 61 hours since the child had fallen. A team from Chennai's Anna University employed a specialised thermal camera to monitor and report the body temperature of the boy. However, on Saturday, the team observed that the child's breathing was not heard. Yet, oxygen was continuously supplied with high hopes of Sujith being saved.
On Sunday, Health Minister Dr C. Vijayabhaskar, who was monitoring the operations, said, “No motion has been detected. Sujith's hand was visible from CCTV footage, amid sand sediments.” But all efforts failed.
The tragic news of Sujith's death has shaken not just the family and Nadukattupatti village, but the entire state. The boy's cries were last heard on Saturday when his mother Kala Mary was asked to talk to him. “My dear little boy. Don't cry. Please don't cry. Amma is near you. Amma will take you out. Amma will save you,” she spoke confidently. She even stitched bags for the rescue teams to use to save the boy. But her hopes have now been shattered.
Sujith's father Britto Arockiaraj, fighting all odds, was seen assisting the rescue team. Arockiaraj blamed himself for digging the borewell for drawing water to his corn field, seven years ago.