The final operation to retrieve the decomposed body of Sujith Wilson from an abandoned borewell in Nadukattupatti lasted just 20 minutes, in the early hours of Tuesday.
According to a reliable source, only 15 members, handpicked by senior officials, were involved in the final operation. Members of the National Disaster Relief Force, the State Disaster Relief Force, Fire and Rescue Service were among those involved. A team of government doctors were also present when the operation was carried.
Started at 3 a.m.
Soon after the officials reported a foul smell emanating from the borewell late on Monday evening, they slowed down the digging of an adjacent hole to a depth of 100 feet so as to create a tunnel to reach the boy.
They then summoned a group of experienced volunteers along with their equipment. A team of government doctors was pressed into service to ascertain if the foul smell was emanating from the borewell in which Sujith was trapped. Following this, a final plan was chalked out around 2 a.m. After a fine-tuning exercise, the NDRF-led team began the operation at 3 a.m.
Besides the equipment of the NDRF, those provided by the Fire and Rescue Services department and volunteers A. Venkatesh of Namakkal and Ruban of Manapparai were used in the operation.
The body of Sujith was pulled out from about 88-feet depth within 20 minutes.
“Only after ascertaining that the boy had died did we decide to stop the drilling of an adjacent hole and engage a team led by the NDRF to pull out the body. We would have been happy if we had rescued him alive,” Tiruchi Collector S. Sivarasu told The Hindu .
