A 2-year-old Indian boy trapped for more than three days in a 150-foot well died before army rescuers could reach him, the Press Association reported Monday.
The parents of Sonu Kumar feared the worst when their son stopped responding to their voices Saturday while trapped in the abandoned well. Rescue workers were feeding oxygen through a pipe to help keep the boy alive, but reaching him was hampered by soft soil that caved in several times.
By the time workers reached the boy, it was too late.
"Kumar has died," Ashok Kumar Shukla, a doctor involved in the rescue operation, told the Press Association after the army pulled out the body.
The boy fell into the well Thursday evening in Leharkapurwa village near Agra, 250 miles southwest of Lucknow, the state capital of Uttar Pradesh. He is believed to be trapped about 70 feet deep.
The Water Works Department dug the well last summer but abandoned it because it was dry, officials said. Government spokesman Diwakar Tripathi said two engineers were suspended and the contractor who dug the well was arrested.
Click here to read more from The Press Association.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox