Now Reading: Kanpur woman dies after courtyard collapses into borewell
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Kanpur woman dies after courtyard collapses into borewell
An 18-year-old woman died on Friday after the courtyard of her house in Kanpur's Purwami village collapsed, plunging her into a 25-foot-deep abandoned borewell. Yashi Savita, the youngest of four sisters, had…
An 18-year-old woman died on Friday after the courtyard of her house in Kanpur's Purwami village collapsed, plunging her into a 25-foot-deep abandoned borewell. Yashi Savita, the youngest of four sisters, had just stepped out of the bathroom when the ground gave way around 6:40 am.
Her family first tried to rescue her with a rope, but further soil collapse made her slip deeper. Police, fire brigade, NDRF, SDRF and other agencies, around 60 personnel, dug alongside the borewell using JCB and Pokland excavators. After nearly seven hours, rescuers reached Yashi and pulled her out unconscious. She was declared dead at the Sarsaul community health centre.
The borewell had been dug inside the house three years ago and abandoned after yielding no water. A floor was later built over it. The family suspects continuous rainfall weakened the soil around the borewell, causing the collapse.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Abandoned borewells across rural Uttar Pradesh remain a recurring hazard despite state directives to cap them. Under the 2018 UP Borewell Safety Act, owners must seal unused borewells or face penalties, but enforcement is patchy. The Kanpur tragedy follows a pattern: in 2022, a three-year-old girl died in a similar borewell fall in Unnao, and in 2023 a toddler was rescued after 12 hours in Etah. The victims are often children or women in homes built over old wells. The local administration has ordered a probe into whether the family or the panchayat failed to ensure the borewell was sealed. The next step will be the district magistrate's report and possible action under the Disaster Management Act.
The Kanpur tragedy follows a pattern of abandoned borewell accidents in rural Uttar Pradesh.
Source: hindustantimes.com
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
