M A I N   N E W S

Dilnaz out of borewell, but dead
Ravi Dhaliwal/ TNS

Dhira (Gurdaspur), June 3
The Army, in cooperation with the local police, today failed to pull out Dilnaz Kaur alive after she got trapped 30 feet deep in a borewell yesterday.

At precisely 12.41 pm today, an Army jawan shouted to his colleagues, standing nearby, that the child had been found. After being trapped in the borewell for more than

26 hours, the Army was able to lay its hands on the child.

Dilnaz was quickly wrapped in a blanket by the jawans and shifted to an ambulance stationed meters away. Led by a couple of escort vehicles, the child was shifted to the Batala Civil Hospital, 10 km away, where the authorities had declared an emergency.

Treatment by a team of doctors began immediately at the Civil Hospital. The doctors continued their treatment, hoping against hope, that they would revive the child. Finally, at around 3 pm, it was declared that Dilnaz was brought dead to the hospital. The Gurdaspur Deputy Commissioner, Prithi Chand, confirmed

Dilnaz’s death, putting an end to the 26- hour long ordeal.

A doctor said the girl had died six or seven hours before she was brought to the hospital. “The post-mortem report will confirm the approximate time of Dilnaz Kaur’s death, but preliminary reports suggest that the girl died six to seven hours before she was brought to the hospital,” he remarked.

Jawans of the 102 Engineers Regiment, Amritsar, were close to extricating the girl from the borewell at around 3 am today, but high velocity winds ensured that the operation had to be suspended. They had already reached 28 feet below the ground and it was just two feet more before they could have laid their hands on Dilnaz.

Moreover, to compound matters, a heavy mass of earth caved in forcing the Army to call off the rescue operation for more than three hours.

At 6 am, the Army started digging again and at 12.41 pm, the girl was finally brought out of the borewell raising hopes not only of her mother, Manpreet Kaur, and father, Gurbez Singh, but also for thousands of onlookers who remained at the site throughout the night. However, three hours later when word went out that Dilnaz was no more, her parents and relatives were crestfallen.