Prince II: Got buried, 'resurrected'

CHANDIGARH: It’s an incident almost akin to the 50-hour ordeal 6-year-old Prince had to undergo in Kurukshetra some time back. But this time around, the audience were far less and prayers limited. Nonetheless, it was a tale worth telling - of racing against time, making desperate rescue efforts and surviving against odds, while two entrapped men made determined efforts to snatch whatever oxygen they could, from and through the earth surrounding them.
Jinder and Karnail Singh, neighbours, had gone into a newly dug 40-feet well to fix a tubewell pipeline in Koth Kalan village in Hisar on Monday. Just when they were at the bottom of the well, the soil suddenly started falling from the corners, burying them completely in a matter of minutes inside the well.
Ram Charan, a villager from Koth Kalan, talking to TOI over telephone on Wednesday, said, "By the time we reached the spot, the well was covered uptill 20 feet. There were about 40 of us and we started removing the soil, to rescue the duo. It took us another six hours to take them out.’’ When finally rescued, the two were in a semi-conscious state and were immediately taken to Civil Hospital, Jind.
The rescue operation was carried out by the villagers, who rushed to the spot responding to the call of Karnail’s elder brother Jaipal, who, while trying to locate the two, chanced upon Karnail’s mobile and found that the well was half-filled with soil.
Acting quickly, the villagers swung into the rescue act within a matter of minutes. Simultaneously, the district administration was also informed, which sent an earthmover to remove the soil expeditiously. However, earthmoving proved to be futile, forcing the villagers to swung immediately into action again.
Malkit Singh, another resident of Koth Kalan, said that about a dozen people were removing the soil by using picks to rescue the trapped. "Meanwhile, the two had managed to create some space around their face so that they could keep breathing all this while,’’ he said.