Miraculous escape for 10-year-old who fell into 40-ft Goregaon building duct

MUMBAI: The 10-year-old son of a businessman had a miraculous escape after falling into a

40-ft deep duct

in one of the towers at

DB Woods

complex in Goregaon (E) on Friday.

Drishya Todi

, a class IV student, suffered

minor injuries

and was stuck in the dark duct for nearly nine hours before

Dindoshi police

found him at 8.30pm. The 55-storey building has stilt parking on the first four floors.

Drishya’s father, Vishal, told TOI that his son left home at 11am to celebrate Holi with friends. The friends started looking for him at noon and when they did not spot him even by 1.30pm, they panicked and informed his parents. After searching for him for three hours, Drishya’s parents registered a missing complaint with Dindoshi police at 4pm.

“The children told us that they were playing Holi when Drishya went to hide near the duct,” said senior inspector Rajaram Vhanmane. Another officer said, “We looked into the duct and shone a torch. On hearing faint cries of help, we realized he was there. It is a miracle that he survived the 40-ft fall.” Drishya later told police that when he fell into the duct, he hit against the walls and this could have broken his fall.

DCP (zone XII) Vinaykumar Rathod told TOI, “The boy suffered minor injuries due to brushing the duct walls during the fall. Doctors are attending to him.”

But some residents claimed that Devesh Chamaria, a 12-year-old who lives in the building, and Pritam, a staffer with the facility service provider of the three buildings in the complex, had found Drishya. Vishal did not respond to calls after the boy was traced.

Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, Location Guesser and Mini Crossword.