Indian army works to rescue boy trapped in well

Posted 10 12 2008 12:10AM

LUCKNOW, India - Soldiers worked Saturday to rescue a 2-year-old boy trapped for more than 36 hours in a 150-foot-deep abandoned well in northern India.

Rescuers said the boy, Sonu Kumar, had stopped responding to his parents' voices and feared he may have lost consciousness.

"Time is running out," said Ashok Kumar Shukla, a doctor involved in the rescue operation. "We are keeping our fingers crossed."

The boy fell into the well Thursday evening in Leharkapurwa village near Agra, 250 miles southwest of Lucknow, the state capital of Uttar Pradesh. He is believed to be trapped about 70 feet deep.

The Water Works Department dug the well last summer but abandoned it because it was dry, officials said. Government spokesman Diwakar Tripathi said two engineers were suspended and the contractor who dug the well was arrested.

Rescue workers were feeding oxygen through a pipe to help keep the boy alive, said senior police official Raghuvir Lal. The army plans to dig a 75-foot tunnel to reach Sonu, Lal said.

The rescue operation has proven difficult because the soil is soft and caved in, he added.