Staff Reporter :Fire-fighters are yet to rescue 4-year old boy five hours after he fell into a 400-foot deep abandoned well of a water pump at Shahjahanpur Railway Colony area in Dhaka on Friday afternoon.Until 9pm Friday, attempt of the fire-fighters to rescue ‘Ziaur’ using rope has been failed four times.They were planning to rescue the boy alive by digging and bringing up the pipe which is 400 to 600 feet long using a crane, said Fire Service official Maj Shakil Newaz, who is overseeing the rescue efforts.He said three units of fire-fighters arrived at the scene around 4pm and started the rescue efforts. “We are facing problem to rescue the child as the hole is too narrow,” said Major Shakil.Rescuers said they spoke to the boy several times and provided him with some food, juice and fresh oxygen.They have also sent a torch down the pipe as the evening fell. But Ziaur has become weaker after spending long hours underground in the cold.The several hundred feet deep hole was dug by WASA sometimes ago, but it is abandoned now. Attempts to save Ziaur were facing obstruction as the hole was not that wide, they added.His father Nasimuddin, who works as a security guard at a school in city’s Motijheel area, told reporters that Ziaur fell inside the hole around 3:30pm while playing with his friends.Zia had managed to get his hands on the rope four times, but not long enough for the rescuers to reel him up.Shahjahanpur Police Station OC Mehedi Hasan said the huge gathering was hindering the rescue efforts.According to fire service officials, the boy is still alive as they heard him screaming. The child is being provided oxygen and food. The operation was going on till updating the report at 11 pm. Meanwhile, the Railway authorities have suspended its senior-sub Assistant Engineer Jahangir Alam for negligence of duties and black listed M/S SR House, a contractor of Railway Department.
