Munduli NDRF chief gives ball-by-ball account of how Rahul was rescued

Munduli's NDRF commandant Vardhaman Mishra, who was one among the rescuers who pulled Rahul to safety from the bore well, has disclosed that they were aware of the presence of a snake with the minor boy.

The joint efforts of NDRF, SDRF and the Indian Army for around 104 hours made 'Operation Zindagi' successful and the 10-year-old Rahul was pulled to safety from the bore well in Chhattisgarh's Janjgir Champa district on Tuesday night. 

During a presser, Commandant Mishra narrated the chronicle of the entire rescue operation when he disclosed that they were well aware of the presence of a snake inside the bore well with Rahul. They learnt about the presence of the reptile through the camera but didn't disclose it to his parents as they would have got scared. Further, he said it was a difficult task to rescue him from the bore well.

"We had some special equipment which is a spring-like tool tied to a rope through which it would have been easier to pull him, but, we didn't have space to pull him up," said Mishra.

Mishra further added, "Such rescue operations become easier when the victim agrees to what we ask to do, but, in this case, the boy didn't listen to us. When we gave him Frooti (mango drink), he took it, even he took the banana but when we put the rope that would have tied his hands, he pushed it away and hid inside the tunnel."

The rescue team faced several hurdles during the operation and the last 72 hours were complicated as well as challenging. However, the rescue team dared to accept the challenges and overcome all the hurdles.

The Commandant even explained that they got emotionally attached to Rahul for which they skipped their meal for 72 hours and didn't even sleep. 

Further, Commandant Mishra said that the last phase of excavating the tunnel was quite difficult as well as dangerous. 

"The rescue task became difficult for us as there were no pipes installed in the bore well. It was even more surprising that there were three more bore wells adjacently and none of them had pipes and was left open. There is no machine that can dig horizontally so we found another option. But, the machine we used for digging vibrated more which escalated the chances of a mudslide in the bore well which would have injured the child," said Mishra.

He added, "We monitored every movement of the child and his condition to ensure his safety. We drilled Dolomite stone for 25 feet, which is very sturdy. The stones were rock solid which was quite difficult to break. We even had to carry a drilling machine on our shoulder that weighed 50 kg and created the passage to pull Rahul."