Boy, 9, chasing kite falls into 45-foot borewell in Rajasthan’s Alwar; rescued
The nine-year-old boy was rushed to the Alwar District Hospital for a medical examination and doctors said he was fine
A nine-year-old boy in Rajasthan's Alwar district fell into a 45-foot deep borewell while chasing a kite, and was rescued after a five-hour operation on Monday night. The child, who stepped on a stone covering the borewell, was initially spotted by locals who attempted to rescue him before alerting the police and district administration.
Alwar additional police superintendent Priyanka Raghuvanshi informed that a National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team was dispatched to Butoli for the rescue mission, supported by experts. The team carefully reached the child and managed to pull him out safely around 11:30 pm, almost five hours after the incident. The boy, who was rushed to Alwar District Hospital for a medical check-up, was found to be unharmed.
This latest incident echoes similar cases of children falling into borewells, where National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) had only a 50% success rate between 2020 and 2025. Since 2009, NDRF had conducted 37 rescue operations for children trapped in borewells across India, but a mere 17 were successful. An NDRF report titled "Borewell Rescue Precis" revealed that over 40 children fell into borewells between 2009 and 2017, with 92% of the victims being under 10 years old and playing around borewells.
India is home to approximately 27 million borewells dug due to water scarcity, low rainfall, drought, and depletion of underground water. Many borewells, especially those that are dry or have inadequate water, remain open and pose a significant danger – referred to as "death holes." In July, a four-year-old boy from Haryana's Ambala was tragically pulled out dead from a 220-foot-deep borewell after a 21-hour rescue effort.
In 2006, a five-year-old boy named Prince Kumar was rescued after enduring a 50-hour ordeal inside a 60-foot borewell in Kurukshetra district. These incidents have prompted the Supreme Court to issue strict guidelines in 2010, mandating the capping of borewells and filling of abandoned ones with clay or sand within a specified timeframe.
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