Betul, Madhya Pradesh: A war-footing rescue operation is being carried out for the last 70 hours to rescue eight-year-old Tanmay Sahu, who fell into a borewell in Mandvi village on Tuesday evening. A tunnel of about nine feet long has been made by the NDRF and SDERF team by digging a pit of 46 feet parallel to the borewell by 3 pm today. Now only three feet of the tunnel is left to be built to reach Tanmay. 

Due to soil subsidence during tunneling, now the use of machines has been stopped and debris is being removed by hand digging. On Friday, Collector Amanbir Singh Bains also reached the spot. He informed that about three feet of the tunnel is left to be dug. The work was stopped for some time to take out the debris.

Sadly, no movement is visible in Tanmay’s body yet. A team of doctors is present on the spot who will immediately test Tanmay after taking him out and decide whether to take him to the hospital. The collector is in constant contact with Tanmay’s family members and they are also being informed of every move.

According to Home Guard Commandant SR Azmi, there is a rapid leakage of water during the construction of the tunnel. After digging for some time, the water was pumped out with the help of a motor pump. Initially, the help of the youth of the village was also taken to dig the tunnel. After this, the NDRF team started building the tunnel. Along with digging, the team is moving forward by tightening iron plates with nut-bolts to make a box-like structure.

The Aathner police station in-charge Ajay Soni said that their first priority is to save Tanyam safely. Then they are planning to register a case of negligence and endangering human life will be registered against the owner of the farm, Nanak Chauhan, for leaving the borewell open. Further updates from the rescue operation are to be followed.