World
Five-year-old trapped in 32m Morocco well for days
Rayan fell down a 32-metre (100-foot) deep well on Tuesday, as darkness fell with diggers clawing out dirt under floodlights to create a hole next to the narrow shaft.
Rabat: Rescuers in Morocco raced against the clock Friday to save a 5-year-old boy trapped in a deep well for almost three days.
According to details, the minor identified as Rayan fell down a 32-metre (100-foot) deep well on Tuesday, as darkness fell with diggers clawing out dirt under floodlights to create a hole next to the narrow shaft.
Rescuers were able to send the child oxygen and water via pipes, and a police helicopter is on standby to evacuate him to a nearby hospital.
The incident sparked an outpouring of sympathy online, with the Arabic hashtag #SaveRayan going viral across North Africa, gripping the kingdom with hundreds of thousands anxiously glued to live broadcasts.
The drilling, however, has hit 27 metres (88 feet), with “the hope of reaching 32 metres (105 feet) in the next few hours”, Morocco’s MAP news agency reported.
The rescuers will then dig three metres horizontally “between the hole and the well to recover the child”, it added.
A medical team has also been dispatched to the scene to carry out initial checks and potential resuscitation once the boy is rescued.
Rayan’s father told Le360 news website he had been repairing the well when the boy fell into it.
The broadcasts of several Moroccan media outlets are being followed minute-by-minute by hundreds of thousands of internet users hanging on for news about the child’s fate.
The accident echoes a tragedy that occurred in Spain in early 2019 when a 2-year-old child died after falling into an abandoned well 25 centimetres (10 inches) wide and more than 70 metres (230 feet) deep.
Julen Rosello’s body was recovered after a search and rescue operation that lasted 13 days.