Nation mourns as 80-hr-long effort fails to bring Sujith alive
After Odour From Borewell, Op Called Off
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Chennai:30.10.2019
Hours after being pulled out from the 88-ft depth of an abandoned borewell decomposed and dismembered, the body of 2-year-old Sujith Wilson was laid to rest on Tuesday, as people across the state and the nation grieved along with his family. Teams of professionals who had been working to save the child since he slipped and fell into the well near his house at Nadukattupatti in Trichy district on Friday evening gave up the rescue effort after their worst fears were confirmed by the putrid odour of decomposed flesh. By 10.30pm on Monday, they switched to retrieval mode.
Nearly 600 people, including professionals from the state and national disaster management teams, those from companies such as NCL, ONGC, L&T, geologists and doctors had been struggling for 80 hours against odds to save Sujith.
“We knew that with every passing minute chances of survival were dim, but we clung on to hope and continued digging the trench. But as we dug, the sand in the borewell sank and fell on the boy. He was covered in mud. While removing the sand from the borewell, the stench hit us. It drowned all hopes,” state disaster management commissioner J Radhakrishnan said.
Children mourn Sujith at the site of the borewell at Nadukattupatti
File report on borewells, HC tells govt
The Madras HC on Tuesday chastised the TN government as to whether it needs a dead body to implement every statute, and ordered authorities to produce details on action taken against violators who had failed to comply with the rules regarding borewells. Justices M Sathyanarayanan and N Seshasayee also said that media, particularly TV channels, had a responsibility to create awareness among public rather than just live telecasting such incidents. P7
We followed every rule in the book, went step by step: Radhakrishnan
Until then, the teams had been constantly monitoring the boy, who was initially stuck at 26 feet, and providing him oxygen. What added to their hope was the image on the thermal camera that showed 37°C — a normal body temperature.
“We followed every rule in the book and went step by step in planning and execution to save the boy,” said Radhakrishnan.
“We tried using a rope to rescue him, then quickly moved to mechanical contraptions with experts in the team until about 10pm on Saturday. When the terrain proved to be impossible, we decided to dig a trench alongside the borewell. It was a slow process as the terrain was extremely rocky. The Italian drill was moving at a pace of 10cm per hour and a more advanced machine that was brought in had an average speed of not more than 50cm per hour,” he said.
A robotic arm deployed by Anna University was about 5.4 inches wide, at least an inch smaller than the diameter of the pit into which Sujith had fallen.
Yet, being constantly reminded about a man who was pulled out of the debris of a multi-storey building that collapsed at Moulivakkam in Chennai after four days, the rescue mission laboured on.
Once it was confirmed the child was no longer alive, he called for a quick meeting with state and national disaster management teams, state police and fire services along with state ministers.
“Everyone agreed that it was inevitable. There were no evident signs of life. The boy was motionless under heaps of sand. We stopped digging the trench and pulled out oxygen supply. The team was asked to retrieve the body,” said Radhakrishnan.
By then a team of doctors and religious leaders had counselled the family members of the child.
By around 2.30am, the teams used pipes, pulleys and wires to pull out the body. Even during retrieval, finger nails were taken for DNA sampling. The body was sent to the hospital for postmortem.
Around 6.30 am, the body was directly taken to a graveyard at Fathima Pudur where it was kept for two hours for the public to pay homage.
Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, Puducherry chief minister V Narayanasamy, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi and several others condoled the death of the child.
After Odour From Borewell, Op Called Off
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Chennai:30.10.2019
Hours after being pulled out from the 88-ft depth of an abandoned borewell decomposed and dismembered, the body of 2-year-old Sujith Wilson was laid to rest on Tuesday, as people across the state and the nation grieved along with his family. Teams of professionals who had been working to save the child since he slipped and fell into the well near his house at Nadukattupatti in Trichy district on Friday evening gave up the rescue effort after their worst fears were confirmed by the putrid odour of decomposed flesh. By 10.30pm on Monday, they switched to retrieval mode.
Nearly 600 people, including professionals from the state and national disaster management teams, those from companies such as NCL, ONGC, L&T, geologists and doctors had been struggling for 80 hours against odds to save Sujith.
“We knew that with every passing minute chances of survival were dim, but we clung on to hope and continued digging the trench. But as we dug, the sand in the borewell sank and fell on the boy. He was covered in mud. While removing the sand from the borewell, the stench hit us. It drowned all hopes,” state disaster management commissioner J Radhakrishnan said.
Children mourn Sujith at the site of the borewell at Nadukattupatti
File report on borewells, HC tells govt
The Madras HC on Tuesday chastised the TN government as to whether it needs a dead body to implement every statute, and ordered authorities to produce details on action taken against violators who had failed to comply with the rules regarding borewells. Justices M Sathyanarayanan and N Seshasayee also said that media, particularly TV channels, had a responsibility to create awareness among public rather than just live telecasting such incidents. P7
We followed every rule in the book, went step by step: Radhakrishnan
Until then, the teams had been constantly monitoring the boy, who was initially stuck at 26 feet, and providing him oxygen. What added to their hope was the image on the thermal camera that showed 37°C — a normal body temperature.
“We followed every rule in the book and went step by step in planning and execution to save the boy,” said Radhakrishnan.
“We tried using a rope to rescue him, then quickly moved to mechanical contraptions with experts in the team until about 10pm on Saturday. When the terrain proved to be impossible, we decided to dig a trench alongside the borewell. It was a slow process as the terrain was extremely rocky. The Italian drill was moving at a pace of 10cm per hour and a more advanced machine that was brought in had an average speed of not more than 50cm per hour,” he said.
A robotic arm deployed by Anna University was about 5.4 inches wide, at least an inch smaller than the diameter of the pit into which Sujith had fallen.
Yet, being constantly reminded about a man who was pulled out of the debris of a multi-storey building that collapsed at Moulivakkam in Chennai after four days, the rescue mission laboured on.
Once it was confirmed the child was no longer alive, he called for a quick meeting with state and national disaster management teams, state police and fire services along with state ministers.
“Everyone agreed that it was inevitable. There were no evident signs of life. The boy was motionless under heaps of sand. We stopped digging the trench and pulled out oxygen supply. The team was asked to retrieve the body,” said Radhakrishnan.
By then a team of doctors and religious leaders had counselled the family members of the child.
By around 2.30am, the teams used pipes, pulleys and wires to pull out the body. Even during retrieval, finger nails were taken for DNA sampling. The body was sent to the hospital for postmortem.
Around 6.30 am, the body was directly taken to a graveyard at Fathima Pudur where it was kept for two hours for the public to pay homage.
Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, Puducherry chief minister V Narayanasamy, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi and several others condoled the death of the child.
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