Lifting Force to Pull the Trapped Child Out of a Narrow Borewell and Scope of Space to Go Below the Trapped Child

Abstract

Since many years, the cases of small children accidentally falling into the uncovered borewell holes are observed in India. In a general procedure, the rescue teams dig an L-shaped hole, parallel to the borewell, to reach the child at the required depth, or tie the hands of the child and try to pull him out. The former method is more challenging and time-consuming if the child is stuck at a depth of more than a hundred feet as they have to cut through rocky soil; while, the second procedure can cause injury to the child. The given paper analyses the position of a child trapped in a narrow borewell. Using the conservation of energy and the reaction forces by the borewell walls on the child, a mathematical expression is derived to calculate the lifting force that will be required to pull out the baby from the same hole (no parallel digging). The paper also calculates the force to insert equipment that can create space around the child without causing any injury to him. This scope of space can be used to go below the child to generate a pushing force for the rescue activity.