Moroccan Boy Dies Before Rescue

Post On Sunday

A young, 5 year old Moroccan boy who was in the media after being trapped in a well in northern Morocco died hours before rescue Saturday evening.

Footage posted on social media showed the scene after his body was recovered, with hundreds of rescue workers and onlookers gathered at the site praying for his rescue.

Rescuers finally reached him late on Saturday after removing much of the adjacent hillside and delicately tunnelling a horizontal passage into the well.

The well is said to be only 45 cm (18 inches) wide at the top and tapered as it dropped 32 metres (100 feet) to the bottom, where Rayan was trapped, making it impossible for rescuers to descend directly.

A male relative of the boy said on Friday that the family had first realised he was missing when they heard muffled crying and lowered a phone with its light and camera switched on to locate him.

“He was crying ‘lift me up’,” the relative said.

Rescuers worked round the clock cutting a massive trench through the hillside, then tunnelling horizontally towards Rayan, with a constant risk of triggering landslides.

In the final hours of the rescue effort, workers had to move with extreme caution as they attempted to dig through earth and rocks to where Rayan lay.

Crowds had gathered in a vigil at the scene to watch the rescue effort as hundreds of workers toiled to save the child. Across the country, Moroccans followed the saga on television in homes and cafes.