Family Grieving Loss of Young Son Who Died While Trapped in a Well for Days

Wire Service
By Wire Service
October 29, 2019International
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Family Grieving Loss of Young Son Who Died While Trapped in a Well for Days
Kala Mary with her 2-year-old son Sujith Wilson, older son, and husband. (Family Handout)

A 2-year-old boy trapped 26 meters (88 feet) down a well since Oct. 25, sparking a major rescue attempt that captivated India, has died.

The body of Sujith Wilson was pulled from the abandoned borewell hours after officials confirmed his death in a press conference in southern Tamil Nadu’s Tiruchirapalli district early Tuesday.

His remains will be cremated near his village of Nadukattupatti later in the day after a church service, officials said.

On Tuesday, villagers laid leaves of the calotropis, or milkweed plant, across local roads in accordance with a Hindu belief that they would ward against further accidents.

Sitting inside the family’s modest farmhouse, Wilson’s mother Kala Mary told CNN, “My courageous son doesn’t deserve the fatal end.”

Indians had followed every development in the days-long rescue attempt, with the hashtags #prayforsurjeeth and #sujithwilson trending on social media and Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeting his support.

Wilson fell down the borewell—a deep well drilled into the ground for irrigation or drinking water, often dug by farmers and left unmarked—while playing outside near his home at about 5:45 p.m. Friday.

More than 500 people joined the 80-hour operation to save him, which included pumping oxygen into the pit and drilling another shaft parallel to the well. But it was beset by challenges.

Rescuers were able to dig down to 13.7 meters (45 feet) but were delayed by bad weather and difficult terrain underground.

“We had to stop the work multiple times for short durations … due to the showers,” Tamil Nadu official T. Shanthi said. She added that a blade used in the drilling was damaged when it hit the rock, slowing the operation.

Images showed Wilson trapped in the muddy well with his arms pinned above his head.

By Monday night local time, rescue teams realized the boy had died. His body was retrieved from the well “in a decomposed state,” according to Trichy district official S. Sivarasu.

Indian boy fell in well, funeral
A man places flowers on the coffin of a toddler who died after getting stuck in a borewell, in Trichy, India, on Oct. 29, 2019. (INA/via Reuters TV)

The incident has sparked calls for tougher penalties for open borewells.

“No one should meet the same fate as Sujith,” resident Shanmugam C said.

Sivarasu said that citizens should be aware about the dangers of the open wells. “The rules are stringent,” she said.

“But there is a lapse in the implementation. The district administration will be spreading awareness about it.”

Well falls are not uncommon in rural India where holes are often dug illegally and left open.

In recent years, cases of children falling into such wells have been recorded across the country, many of which led to arduous yet usually successful retrievals by paramilitary and rescue forces.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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