TN CM EPS meets Sujith's family, says his death is unfortunate

Tamil Nadu's commissioner for revenue administration J Radhakrishnan on early Tuesday said that the body of two-year-old Sujith Wilson, who had fallen in a borewell four days ago, is now in a decomposed state. The process of digging a parallel hole to rescue the child has now been stopped and major parts of the body have been retrieved.

The rituals in his funeral proceedings were conducted as per the Christian procedure.

Following the tragedy, the Madras High Court directed the Tamil Nadu government to file a status report by November 11 on steps taken to implement the 2009 Supreme Court judgement on borewells in the country.

TN CM EPS also met Sujith's family and said that his death is unfortunate. AIADMK ministers-- Vijayabaskar, Vellamandi Natarajan and Valarmathi-- also met his family

EPS said that Tamil Nadu government would grant compensation of Rs10 lakh to the family of Sujith Wilson and AIADMK would grant Rs10 lakh.

In a press meet held outside Sujith’s residence, Radhakrishnan said that all efforts to bring the child alive had been done, but now in an unfortunate turn of event, bad smell has started coming from the borewell in which the child had fallen.

The body of two-year-old Sujith Wilson, who was found dead in a borewell in the wee hours of Tuesday, was brought to Pudur for cremation.

Photo courtesy: Daniel Kanagaraj

The body of the two-year-old toddler was taken to his residence in Nadukattupatti following an autopsy this morning.

Tiruchirappalli: Body of 2-year-old #SujithWilson who lost his life after he fell into a borewell on October 25 is being taken to his residence in Nadukattupatti following an autopsy. #TamilNadu https://t.co/bQCGGbc44b pic.twitter.com/q1maWKHOdq ANI (@ANI) October 29, 2019

AIADMK leaders paid respects by garlanding the coffin. Later, DMK chief Stalin also paid his last respects to the child at Manaparai in Trichy.

The body of the deceased minor was taken out by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team and taken to the hospital for post-mortem.

Image courtesy: Daniel Kanagaraj

CONGRESS, DMK BLAME TN GOVT

As people mourn the death of Sujith, the DMK and Congress blamed the Tamil Nadu government for the tragedy.

DMK chief MK Stalin said, "Had ministers shown interest in rescue operations instead of giving media interviews we could have reached Sujith in time."

"He Sujith could have been saved when he was stuck at 36 feet," Stalin added.

MK Stalin also questioned why the Army was not called in to lead rescue operations.

Meanwhile, Congress MP from Karur Jothimani said that despite the efforts put in by committed manpower, two-year-old Sujith Wilson could not be rescued alive due to "lack of a proper plan".

"Government and other authorities extended their help throughout the rescue process. Police, Fire tenders, NDRF were also involved during the rescue process. Some of the rescue forces came in very late because they were not informed on time," said Jothimani.

"We had committed manpower but the problem is that we did not have a very systematic plan layout. We couldn't make a decision on time as well," said Jothimani.

CONDOLENCES POUR IN

Condoling Sujith's death, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief MK Stalin tweeted, "Sujith who suffered for the last four days and kept the entire country anxious has attained permanent peace. How do we console hi parents? Sujith’s loss is not just the family’s loss but the loss of the entire nation. Sujith will always be remembered in our memories."

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? . . ! https://t.co/gaK8HAC2tS M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) October 29, 2019

Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) Chief TTV Dinakaran tweeted, "All of us were highly hopeful that the child will be rescued alive but to see him recovered as a dead body is disheartening. There are no words to console the parents and family members."

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, . TTV Dhinakaran (@TTVDhinakaran) October 29, 2019

Expressing shock over the death of two-year-old Sujith, Karur MP Jothimani said such a horrific incident should not happen again. "All efforts should be taken to create a system and a manner to combat such an incident," she said.

Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi also expressed grief at Sujith's death. "I’m sorry to hear about the passing of baby Sujith. My condolences to his grieving parents and his family," he tweeted.

Actor and politician Rajinikanth offered his condolences to Sujith's family, tweeting "It pains me to hear the tragic demise of Sujith. Let his soul rest in peace. My condolences to his family."

Sujith Wilson has been trapped in a borewell near Tiruchirappalli at a depth of nearly 100 feet below ground. The government officials and rescue workers had been working for more than 80 hours to retrieve the child. As of now, the digging process has been stopped.

A high-level security deployment is put in place, multiple checkpoints have also been created in the region. This is done to avoid any untoward incidents. From Friday evening onwards, many people from the neighbouring villages and district have been coming to the spot to see the rescue work.

PARTIAL BODY RECOVERED

An NDRF Commander said that Sujith's body was in a highly decomposed state and we extracted the body but only a few parts of the body had been retrieved. Only the major part of the body came out." The body has been taken to the Manapparai government hospital in Tamil Nadu.

Tiruchirappalli: Body 2-year-old Sujith Wilson who fell into a borewell in Nadukattupatti on 25th October is being taken to Government Hospital in Manapparai. #TamilNadu pic.twitter.com/vnLUAxf1Br ANI (@ANI) October 28, 2019

J Radhakrishnan said that the body of the child was "dismembered" and in a "highly decomposed" state."Decomposed smell was coming from the borewell. The body is now highly decomposed and is in final observation," he said.

In an interview to India Today TV, District Collector Shivarasu said that after post-mortem, the body has been taken to the graveyard. The mother too is being taken along, he said.

"All the steps needs were taken. NDRF Local expert all were here and the 80 hours of intense work was done," Shivarasu said.

He further said that the body was completely decomposed. "The exact time of death is not known. Will have to check the post mortem report when it comes," he said.

"Almost all the borewells in the region have been converted into rainwater harvesting except a few private ones," Shivarasu said.

HIGH TECH RESCUE OPS FAIL TO SAVE CHILD

On Monday, a government official said that the child has fainted, but was breathing. The Tamil Nadu toddler has not been heard from since Saturday morning and a haunting image showing the child stuck in a narrow hole, with just his head and arms visible, has underlined the wretchedness of the tragedy.

A parallel hole was being dug by the rescue team which had managed to dig up to 63 feet till 9 pm. 79 hours had passed, but the team was still digging the hole to save the toddler. The plan is to reach Sujith via a horizontal passage.

The child remains stuck at 88 feet deep while the government is attempting to dig upto 100 feet to ensure the rescue operation works.

Senior officials and politicians including senior minister of the AIADMK government are at the location.

A second rig is now being used to make the bigger hole. Work is expected to get faster with the bigger rig brought into place. High-power drilling rigs were employed in the efforts to rescue Sujith on Friday.

Earlier on Monday, a heavy German-made drilling machine was deployed to dig a parallel shaft to reach the boy stuck at a depth of 88 feet, but rescue efforts were hampered by rocky soil and rain.

Two Fire and Rescue Services personnel were lowered into the freshly drilled shaft, using a ladder and with all necessary support like oxygen, for initial assessment of the condition inside.

Late on Saturday, a drilling rig was brought to the borewell site. The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation drilling rig were employed to dig a parallel hole to the borewell into which Sujith fell. Later, a drilling rig of the private player Larsen & Toubro too was brought to the site to supplement the drilling efforts.