The Fire Service has rescued two-year-old Sajid alive after he remained trapped for 32 hours inside an abandoned deep tubewell pipe in Tanore upazila of Rajshahi. He was pulled out at around 8:50 pm on Thursday (December 11) and taken to the Tanore Upazila Health Complex for treatment.
Tanore Upazila Executive Officer (UNO) Naima Khan confirmed that the child was rescued alive.
Sajid had fallen into the uncapped tubewell shaft on Wednesday afternoon (December 10) while walking through a field in Koelhat village with his mother. Hearing her screams, locals rushed to help but failed to reach the child. They then alerted the Fire Service, after which three units from Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj launched a rescue operation.
Rescuers first lowered a charge-vision camera about 35 feet into the pipe but could not detect the boy. Overnight, they dug a 35-foot-deep pit with an excavator and later attempted to create a horizontal tunnel from that pit toward the tubewell. This effort, too, failed to identify Sajid’s exact location. When the camera was lowered again, only soil was visible, prompting rescuers to begin digging once more.
Local residents said the deep tubewell had been drilled a year earlier for irrigation. When no water was found, the owner filled the opening with soil. Recent rains caused the soil to collapse, exposing the pipe once again—and Sajid accidentally stepped into it.
Throughout the day, rescue teams continued lowering cameras and searching at depths of 45 to 50 feet, frequently adjusting their strategy as no clear trace of the child was found. Despite the challenges, rescuers remained hopeful that the child was alive inside the shaft.
Sajid’s mother, Runa Khatun, said the accident happened around 1 pm on Wednesday. She had been walking through the field carrying her infant while holding Sajid’s hand when he suddenly shouted “Mother!” She turned to find him gone, and moments later heard his voice calling out from inside the hole. The field had been covered with straw, leaving the hidden opening invisible to them.
Sajid is the eldest of three brothers. His younger brother, Saadman, is a second-grader at a local primary school, while the youngest, Sabbir, is just three months old. Their father, Rakib, works at a jhut factory in Gazipur.
