Indian child trapped in borewell became trending among Malaysians on social media

What was supposed to be a joyful time of celebration turned into sorrow for a family in Tamil Nadu just two days before Deepavali.

A 2-year old boy named Sujith Wilson who was trapped in a borewell for over four days since October 25 was pronounced dead on Tuesday morning by officials.

Upon receiving the news, Malaysians wrote their condolences to the victim’s family through Twitter. According to trend24.in, hashtags ‘#RIPSujith’ and ‘#SujithWilson’ became trending among Malaysian Twitter users on October 29.

It was reported that Sujith was playing with three other boys in front of his house before falling into an abandoned borewell.

Rescuers were immediately alerted when cries were heard from the 35-feet deep borewell.

The four-day rescue operation involved Tamil Nadu’s fire and rescue department, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) as well as private players.

NDRF was prompted after attempts to pull the boy out with the help of a rope failed, subsequently causing Sujith to fall deeper into the well.

Some Malaysian mainstream media picked up the story. Based on media share of ‘Sujith’, Sinar Harian ranked at number 18, publishing three articles on the incident. Meanwhile, Berita Harian, My Metro and New Straits Times produced two articles each.

Despite the low number of coverage on Sujith in the local mainstream media, his death became a trending issue in the social media.