Jangjir- Champa: Efforts are being ramped up to rescue Rahul Sahu, an 11-year-old boy who slipped into 80 feet abandoned well on Thursday afternoon. Even after 24 hours of the incident, the state administration is struggling to pull out the boy.

On the instruction of CM Bhupesh Baghel, officials from both the administration and the police department have been engaged on the spot for the past 24 hours. Janjir Collector Jitendra Shukla, SP Vijay Aggarwal along with 4 IAS, 2 IPS, 1 ASP and 2 Deputy Collectors along with 5 Tehsildars, 4 DSPs and 8 Inspectors are involved in teams deployed from Raigarh, Durg and Bilaspur.

Apart from them, technical personnel including 1200 police officials, 323 NDRF teams, 15 SDRF and around 500 army officials have been engaged in the rescue operation. Machines like Poclain, JCB, Fire Brigade, Hydra Cranes, Stonebreaker, Tractor and Horizontal Boring Machine have been put into use to evacuate the boy from the well.

“The rescue operation, which began at 4 pm (on Friday) is still underway on war-footing to evacuate the child safely. Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) assisted by the district administration and police personnel have been engaged in the rescue work… So far, rescuers have dug a 50-feet parallel pit with the help of JCB and poclain machines. After digging for about 60 to 65 feet a tunnel will be created to evacuate the child,” a government statement said. 

Sahu had fallen into the unused borewell located in the backyard of his house in Pihrid village in Malkharoda development at around 2 pm on Friday while playing.