A 57-hour rescue operation in Rajasthan's Dausa ended in tragedy as a five-year-old boy, Aryan Meena, was declared dead after being pulled out of a 150-foot borewell. The boy, who fell into the borewell while playing on Monday afternoon around 3 pm, was trapped in the narrow well for three days.

Rescue efforts began an hour after the incident, with National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Relief (SDRF) teams working round the clock to bring the boy to safety.

The operation involved digging a parallel pit using drilling machines to reach the child. They started digging a vertical tunnel parallel to the well on Tuesday night after initial efforts to pull him out with a rope and other methods failed.

Oxygen was supplied through a pipe to assist his breathing, and a CCTV camera was used to monitor his condition. The boy was declared to be in an unconscious state on Tuesday night after no movement was noticed.

Incidents of children and even adults falling into open borewells are not uncommon in rural areas where they are dug to pump water for irrigation and drinking and left abandoned after they run dry. Many cases of children falling into wells have been reported from across the country recently. 

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According to National Disaster Response Force data, at least 40 children fell into borewells over a decade until 2019, with nearly 70 per cent of rescue operations proving unsuccessful.

In April this year, a six-year-old died after falling into a borewell in Madhya Pradesh. Despite a 40-hour rescue mission, the child could not be saved, leading to the suspension of two senior district officials for alleged negligence. In September, a two-year-old girl was rescued after an 18-hour operation from a 35-foot borewell in the Bandikui area of Dausa. She had been trapped at a depth of 28 feet, and a parallel approach was used to bring her to safety.