Pic Courtesy: Sidharth Pandey
It's been more than 72 hours, but five-year-old Mahi Upadhyay still remains trapped inside a 70-feet borewell she fell into on Wednesday night in Khaow village close to Gurgaon. Her rescuers say she is just millimetres away from them but this is the most difficult part and they could take hours to reach her.
There is a likelihood of her getting injured by either the machines or the mud and rocks which is why the last few millimetres requires extreme caution they say. Reliance Industries which is also helping in her rescue have brought in machines that have zeroed in on her but there has been no movement detected.
Doctors on standby are hoping that she's just fallen asleep or is unconscious.
Early this morning the operation to pull her out began again, after it had to be stopped last night due to the presence of rocks that was blocking the area where she is stuck.
Officials say the team could not use a drill as it could harm her. So since morning, they have been trying to remove these rocks manually.
More than 100 officials from the Army, Police, National Security Guards (NSG), Fire Brigade, Gurgaon civic authorities, Gurgaon Metro Rail services and Reliance Industries have been involved in trying to get her out.
The Gurgaon metro authorities have even brought in a drilling machine that is used by them to bore holes in the ground to erect pillars for the metro. This machine is being used to dig a parallel shaft that will then be used to reach Mahi through an underground tunnel.
But even the presence of this big machine has not brought any good news. The machine is being used very slowly as authorities fear that the ground could cave in if it's used without caution. The extreme heat and humid conditions are also making the operation difficult to carry out.
The police are also looking for the contractor who dug the borewell and left it uncovered, but with each hour passing, hope for Mahi is dwindling away.