3-yr-old dies after falling into Ctg deep tube-well pit

The body of a three-year-old boy was recovered last night, four hours after he fell inside a deep tube-well pit in Raozan upazila of Chattogram.

Firefighters recovered the body of Misbah Uddin at around 8:30pm, Raozan Police Station Officer-in-Charge Sazedul Islam told The Daily Star.

Misbah was the son of Saiful Islam, a day labourer by profession.

The incident took place in Joynagar village of ward 7 under Kadalpur union of Raozan upazila in the evening, police said.

According to family members, Misbah went missing after falling into the pit near his house around 4:30pm while he was playing near his house.

Citing doctors, the policeman said, “Firefighters rescued the boy and rushed him to the upazila health complex, where on-duty doctors declared him dead.”

“Doctors told us that the child was ‘brought dead’ to the hospital,” he added.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (Rangunia Circle) Balayat Hossain said, “Upon receiving the news, five units of fire service, along with police, rushed to the scene.” 

He added, “A team of army also joined rescue efforts around 7:30pm.”

Abdul Mannan, deputy director of Chattogram Fire Service, told The Daily Star, at 8:00pm, “It appears that a very narrow pit, about 25-30 feet deep, was dug several years ago for a government project. I do not know why it was not filled up afterwards. We dug another pit adjacent to it to rescue the boy within a short time.”

A video circulating on Facebook shows local residents trying to rescue the child using bamboo poles. In the video, a young man could be seen asking the child to hold on to the bamboo.

The child’s uncle, Shah Alam, said in a Facebook live video that Misbah fell into the pit while playing with other children and had managed to hold onto a bamboo stick for more than an hour.

A similar incident took place on December 10 last year.

Two-year-old Sajid fell into an abandoned 30-foot-deep tube-well pit in Tanore, Rajshahi. His body was recovered nearly 32 hours later, highlighting the dangers posed by unattended deep pits.