Worker trapped in borewell on Delhi-Katra Expressway rescued after 45 hours

The worker's brother accused the construction company of engaging him in the repair work though he has no technical skills. The rescue operation is underway since 7 pm on Saturday.

Jalandhar:The worker, who got trapped for 45 hours in a 60-feet-deep borewell at Basrampur in Kartarpur while working on a stretch on the Delhi-Katra Expressway was finally rescued this afternoon. Suresh Kumar, a resident of Jind in Haryana was stuck in the borewell after sand fell on him.

He was taken out from the borewell by the rescue team at around 4 pm and rushed to the nearby hospital. Suresh is currently undergoing treatment in the hospital, officials said.

Suresh's younger brother, Satyawan who reached the spot this morning said that his brother is not a technical worker but works as a caretaker. "Suresh has never done any work related to machine repairing but he was still sent for undertaking the repair work," he said.

It was learnt that Suresh along with a technical worker had descended underneath to mend the boring machine that had got stuck. Suddenly, sand fell on them and though the other worker was rescued out, Suresh got trapped inside.

The incident took place at around 7 pm on Saturday and since then rescue operations started. According to officials, the biggest obstacle in the rescue operation was a nearby pond.

Satyawan, who came from Haryana's Zind questioned as to why he was engaged in the repairing work since he was neither an engineer nor a technical worker. "The company is saying that Suresh is a technical worker only to protect themselves," Suresh's brother alleged.

The softening of the soil due to monsoons made the rescue operation difficult, said an official. Around five JCB machines were deployed for extracting the soil. Teams of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) worked round the clock to rescue Suresh.