Letter.

Letter Published in The National UAE on 17June, Prevent children from falling into wells This is reference to Taniya Dutta’s article Indian boy trapped in well with snakes rescued after 105 hours (June 14): this is simply wonderful news. After what must have been four traumatic days for the boy, his parents and all his his near and dear ones, young Rahul can be home safely. Considering 40 children have died in similar accidents from 2009 to 2019, according to the National Disaster Response Force, Rahul is fortunate to survive four days in such dire conditions, although he is likely to live with the trauma for some time. We should all congratulate the rescue team for completing what was evidently a tricky operation. It is high time that local governments begin implementing safety measures to ensure children don’t fall into wells, particularly in rural areas. Parents should be careful, of course, but governments need to secure all possible accident-prone zones so that the likelihood of such cases occurring in the future is drastically reduced. K Ragavan, Bengaluru, India