Expressing concern over rising incidents of little children falling into open pits and wells, President Pratibha Patil Friday appealed to local authorities across the country to ensure that these open death traps are covered immediately.

The president made her appeal while greeting three-year-old Vandana, who was rescued Wednesday night from a 50-ft deep bore-well at Tehra village in Agra district of Uttar Pradesh.

'The president has conveyed her greetings and good wishes for the well being of little Vandana on her rescue from an open bore-well,' said a Rashtrapati Bhawan statement.

Taking note of this incident and some others before this, the president appealed to local authorities and the people 'to be vigilant and ensure that open pits, bore wells and manholes are covered, so as to avoid unnecessary repetition of such incidents', the communique added.

Vandana miraculously survived a 27-hour ordeal after she slipped into a dry and abandoned pit about 180-feet deep while playing with her father in her village near Agra on Tuesday evening.

In July 2006, a five-year-old boy, Prince, fell into a nearly 60-feet deep shaft near his home in Shahbad in Kurukshetra, Haryana. He was rescued after a marathon 50-hour effort involving civil administration and the army engineers and troops.