Boy dies in pit

Ratlam, MP, Dec 31 (UNI) An eight-year-old, who was trapped 30 feet underground in a pit yesterday at Ujjain district's Baramadkheda village, was declared dead today after being brought out at the end of a roughly seventeen-hour-long rescue effort.

Kalu's corpse was brought out at 0620 hrs and the local children's hospital's doctors said that he had died sometime back.

The pit had been sunk for a tubewell and the rescue operation began at about 1430 hrs.

The district administration became active, after a flurry by media and local people's representatives, at the village that is approximately 20 km from this district headquarters. Khachrod MLA Dilip Singh Gujjar was one of the first to reach the spot and arranged for a JCB machine.

Eyewitnesses said that the parallel hole was about two feet shallower than it should have been. Thus when the perpendicular tunnel was dug, it did not reach the kid. Another tunnel also failed in its objective. The last phase of the operation was consequently delayed by roughly three hours.

UNI