Bagalkot: The operation to rescue a six-year old boy trapped in an abandoned borewell at a farm in nearby Sulikeri village continued for the third day on Tuesday with his father expressing doubts about his being alive.
As rescue teams continued multi-pronged efforts, the boy Thimmanna Hatti's father Hanumantha Hatti pleaded that the operation be stopped, saying "I won't get back my son alive after all this that is being done."
Officials at the site and the district minister in charge SR Patil said the operation would continue and the father might have made the plea "in an emotional mood."
The boy was seen on camera to have been covered with mud, officials said, as they brought vaccum pump to clear it, while pit-cum-tunnel in L shape is being dug to reach Thimmanna, trapped at a depth of 160 feet in the 300-ft borewell.
Police have meanwhile booked cases under various sections of IPC against the father, borewell company owner, its manager, Gram Panchayat President and Vice-President, Project Development Officer and Assistant Executive Engineer in connection with the incident.
A robotic equipment team lead by Manikanthan from Madurai has been roped in to help in the rescue operation, after similar attempt using robot to pull out the boy failed.
"I won't get back my son alive after all this that is being done. I should at least save my land for the future of my two daughters," Hanumantha Hatti told reporters, as nearly three lakh cubic metres of mud had been dug covering good part of the farm, also thronged by hundreds of people.
Patil, who is overseeing the operation, said, "the father is in great pain, He is saying all this may be in emotional mood of not being able to save his son and also seeing his land being dug up."
Thimmanna fell into the borewell in his father's sugarcane field while he was with his cousin on Sunday.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, August 6, 2014, 00:12
