Child's play becomes ordeal

Toddler locks himself inside a bathroom for almost an hour before firemen initiate rescue operation

Parents of one-year-old Aadesh Dubal did not know of the impending trouble when their son playfully entered the bathroom of their house without their knowledge, only to lock himself up later.


Safe and sound: Aadeshu00a0 Dubal had locked himself in the bathroom.
Pic/Jignesh Mistry

The incident happened at 10 am in Vishnu-Priya apartment of Kasba Peth area when the parents heard the child's cries coming from the bathroom. They tried opening the door, but in vain. After realising that their attempts would be futile, they called the fire brigade. The officials checked and found no emergency exit on the fourth floor. They did not want to break open the window of the bathroom, lest the glass pieces hurt the toddler.

Slit the latch
Anil Karde, fireman, who was part of the rescue operation said, "The child was frightened and crying. Generally in this case, we would have attempted to climb up the pipe to access the bathroom window. But the child could have got hurt if we had done that. So we decided to slit the latch and break the door." Aadesh's mother Seema, a working professional, shouted instructions to her son, asking him to stand away from the door as the firemen tried to break it.

Surprisingly, the infant responded to his mother and was safely rescued, as the door was broken. Aadesh was locked in the bathroom for almost 45 minutes. Seema said, " I am thankful to fire brigade officials for their work. They have rescued my son." Firemen Kamlesh Chaudhari, Raji Jagdale helped Karde open the door and rescue Aadesh.