Surat: An eight-year-old boy died after falling in an open manhole near Nana Varachha police chowky here on Sunday. Fire Brigade personnel were able to bring out the boy’s body after a rescue operation that lasted over five hours from Tapi River. Rohan Bhil, a resident of Girnar Society , Nana Varachha, was rushed to SMIMER but the doctors declared him brought dead.Sarfaraz Ibrahim Malik, an eyewitness, said, “Three boys came playing with a thermocol sheet on road from Ramji Mandir side in the rain. I and my friends were sitting on the side of the road when one of them playfully flung the thermocol sheet. Then the other picked up and he threw it back and they kept playing for some time in knee-deep water. Two boys, including the one who fell in the manhole, were holding each other’s hands because water was flowing with force. Suddenly, the water current swept away one of the boys and he fell into the manhole which was open. A man tried to save the boy but he couldn’t. He shouted for help and soon people gathered there, but the boy had gone far from sight inside the manhole.”A police complaint was filed at Varachha police station about the incident. Unidentified persons were booked for leaving the manhole open.Chief fire officer Vasant Parikh said, “Two fire brigade officials entered the manhole wearing oxygen masks in search of the boy. We were able to find the boy after a five-hour operation from Tapi River.” The boy had got swept away into the river through the manhole.

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