17-year-old boy falls into 30-feet-deep well, rescue operations on

Howrah: A 17-year-old boy today fell into a 30-feet-deep well in the Liluwa village in West Bengal's Howrah district.

Roshan, a construction worker, was trying to draw water out of the well when he slipped and fell into it at around 4 pm.

A disaster management team is at the site and rescue operations are on to save the teenager. "The disaster management group personnel have reached the spot with gas masks as there are toxic gases in the well. The fire brigade personnel are also there. We hope he will be rescued quickly," said Javed Khan, Disaster Management, Fire and Emergency Services Minister.

The minister also said that search lights were being used with divers ready to go into the well. "Our estimate is the well is 30 feet deep. Some others are saying it is 70 feet deep," he said.

The firemen initially tried to pump out water from the well. "But no sooner we pumped out some water, it again started getting filled up," said a fire brigade official.

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Area lawmaker Rajib Banerjee said efforts were on to send a crane to the spot so that if any rescuer entering the well fell sick, he could be brought out with the help of the crane.

The incident occurred almost around the same time as the body of five-year-old Mahi Upadhyay was recovered from a borewell in Gurgaon's Khaow village. Mahi had fallen into the borewell on Thursday. Despite a massive rescue operation that lasted 85 hours, she could not be saved. (Read: Five-year-old Mahi dies in borewell)

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