Punjab tragedy: Day-by-day account of Fatehveer's rescue op

After almost five days, the NDRF and other volunteering teams managed to rescue Fatehveer Singh, the two-year-old who was stuck in a borewell in Punjab's Sangrur. Unfortunately, Fatehveer was unable to survive the ordeal.

Sangrur: A two-year-old boy Fatehveer Singh, who was stuck in a 150-feet deep borewell in Punjab for nearly 110 hours, was declared dead after he was pulled out of the borewell on Tuesday.

Here is a day-by-day account of what transpired:

Day 1 (June 6):

• At around 4 pm on June 6, Fatehveer Singh accidentally slipped into the borewell while playing
• A team of NDRF and Army experts, assisted by the police, civil authorities, villagers and volunteers, started the rescue operation
• Through a camera, the child was spotted inside the borewell and oxygen supply was provided
• JCB machines were pressed into service to dig earth around the borewell
• In the night, the NDRF team tied the hand of the child with a rope, but he could only be pulled up to three-four feet and was stuck again

Day 2 (June 7):

• On the morning of June 7, the NDRF team decided to install 36-inch pipes in the vicinity of the borewell to rescue him, since more digging would have caused damage in the vicinity
  

  Fatehveer Singh

Day 3 (June 8):

• At around 5 am on June 8, a movement in Fatehveer's body was noticed
• Digging continued on the parallel 36-inch diameter borewell, and was 45-50 feet away from the desired spot
• Digging was being done manually as mechanical digging would have lead to caving in of nearby portions of earth

Day 4 (June 9):

• A technical snag on the morning of June 9 hit the operation. Digging was stalled for close to four hours
• Digging reached around 105-feet deep, and close to 20 feet still remained to be dug up

Day 5 (June 10):

• There was no official confirmation about the health of Fatehveer, even as rescue operations continued on June 10, his birthday. He turned three

Day 6 (June 11):

• Fatehveer was finally pulled out at about 5:30 am on the morning of June 11
• He was taken to PGI Chandigarh for treatment. However, he was declared 'brought dead'
• The state had a chopper on standby near the site, but the child was taken to a hospital about 140 km from the village by road