India, Nov. 20 -- A two-year-old boy miraculously survived a 20-foot plunge into an open sewer chamber near Dnyanasadhana College in Thane on Tuesday evening, after local residents mounted a swift and daring rescue even before civic responders arrived.

The child, identified as Hamdan Gufran Qureshi, a resident of Rabodi, was walking along the footpath on the Mumbai-Nashik Highway with his mother when he slipped and fell into the uncovered chamber. Witnesses said the mother's screams for help alerted nearby residents, who rushed to the spot.

Local leader Namrata Bhosale said a group of youths immediately began searching for the boy. One of them, identified only as Gopi, climbed down into the sewer and groped through the murky water for n...