Woman rescued from 20-feet dry bore well in north Karnataka

The police accompanied by villagers rescued a twenty-year-old married woman, who had accidentally fallen into a 20-feet dry bore well in a farm in Sikkeri village in north Karnataka’s Bagalkot district, bringing back memories of Prince episode.

Police said Kalavva Gadaginavvar had slipped into the open bore well when she was returning home from the fields around 8 pm on Thursday. Kalavva’s cries for help from the depths of the bore well went unheard even as her husband frantically searched for her throughout the night.

A farmer passing by the open bore well heard a faint female voice on Friday and immediately alerted the villagers, who arrived in large numbers. Kalavva’s panic stricken husband reached the spot and led a rescue operation by throwing a rope into the 15 inch wide bore well. But, Kalavva could not grasp the rope due to darkness and narrowness of the well.

The police, which had already been informed, arrived at the scene and launched a rescue operation. Emulating the Prince’s much-publicized rescue act, an earth moving equipment was pressed into service to dig a tunnel parallel to bore well in which Kalavva lay trapped.

The operation lasted four hours and Kalavva was rescued from the bore well 16 hours after she fell into it. She had suffered minor injuries, but was dazed when she was rescued, police said. She was immediately rushed to a private hospital.

The Superintendent of Bagalkot police Ramesh Harihar supervised the rescue operation while MLA Charanthimutt monitored the process along with several villagers. The operation evoked a huge interest among the locals as hundreds of people from nearby villages thronged the spot.