A two-year-old boy who fell into a 30–35-foot hole dug for a deep tube well in Tanore, Rajshahi, remained trapped for over 20 hours as rescuers continued efforts to reach him.
Fire service teams have dug a 40-foot parallel shaft using three excavators and began tunnelling towards the narrow main hole on Thursday morning. Oxygen is being pumped continuously to keep the child alive, but he had not been rescued as of 9am.
Rajshahi Fire Service Assistant Director Didarul Alam said: “The mouth of the deep tube well is only eight inches wide. We have dug 40ft down and are now working to build a tunnel to reach the child. Oxygen supply is ongoing, but he has not been rescued till 9am.”
The child, Sajid, fell into the hole around 1pm on Wednesday while walking through a harvested paddy field with his mother. Sajid is the son of Rakibul Islam of Purbapara village in Koelhat. Rakib works at a jute mill in Dhaka.
Three fire service units launched the rescue operation in the afternoon. Locals had initially thrown soil into the hole in an attempt to locate the child. Rescuers said the child was responding until 4pm but later fell silent amid the crowd’s noise.
Sajid’s mother, Runa Khatun, said she was walking with Sajid and her younger child when he suddenly disappeared. “I heard him calling ‘Mom’ from inside the hole. Straw had been spread over it—I didn’t know there was a hole there,” she said.
Hundreds of onlookers crowded the scene, prompting Tanore police to cordon off the area. “The scene has been secured with ropes to control the situation,” said Tanore police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md Shahinuzzaman.
Local and police sources said groundwater levels in Pachandar Union have dropped sharply, and installing deep tube wells has been restricted. Landowner Kashir Uddin had dug the hole a year ago in search of water but abandoned it after failing to find any. Though he later filled it, monsoon rains caused the soil to settle and reopen the hole—into which the child fell.