Rescue workers retrieved the body of a five-year-old boy who was trapped in a 100 ft well since February 1, a tragic end to a rescue operation that has gripped Morocco, Aljazeera reported. Moroccan King Mohammed VI expressed his condolences to the boy's parents. The boy died before rescuers could save him, the Royal Palace said.
A tragic end as rescuers staged a four-day operations to save a Rayan Awram, a five-year-old boy trapped in a well in northern Morocco on Saturday.
By Saturday evening, the rescue effort was on the final stage and "the most delicate" stage of its operation as mechanical diggers and workers had reached within a meter of where Rayan was located. The boy was at the bottom of a 32-meter (100-ft) deep well in the hills near the City of Chefchaouen. The rescuers were digging towards the boy and found the lifeless body of the boy on February 5.
Most delicate stage of the rescue operation
Abdelhadi Thamrani, the lead rescuer, said that the rescuers were in the tunnel, and the stage is the most delicate of all stages.
As of Saturday, Reuters reported that rescuers cut through the last narrow section of rock and earth. Any wrong move of the rescuers could trigger a landslide, Thamrani said.
In operation, rescue workers in helmets and high-visibility vests transported ropes, tackle, stretchers, and other equipment down into the trench as rescuers dug an access tunnel parallel to the well. The rescuers are less than a meter from the boy.
The mixture of rocky and sandy soils discouraged rescuers from opening the water well's narrow opening, finding the effort too dangerous.
Instead, a huge trench was dug next to the well using bulldozers. Rescuers then started digging horizontally to get to the boy.
The rescue team has been working round-the-clock for the past three days.
Mohamed Yassin El Quahabi, the Chefchaouen Association of Caving and Mountain Activities president, told the BBC that volunteers and rescue workers tried to gain access through the well's opening at the start of the operation. The attempt failed because the hole diameter was small, 25cm (9.8 inches). The depth became smaller at 28 meters, El Quahabi said.
The rescue operation is in a small northern town of Tamorot, around 100 km from the city of Chefchaouen.
Saving Rayan
As of Saturday, rescue officials are unsure if Rayan is still alive. Tamrani said that a camera showed that he was lying on his side, but it was not possible to determine the child's condition at all this time.
On Thursday, a video of the camera lowered into the well showed that the boy was alive and conscious, although he seemed to be suffering from a minor head injury.
The rescuers managed to communicate with the child at the early stages of the rescue operations. The rescuers waited for a minute and saw that the boy had begun using the oxygen, Red Crescent volunteer Imad Fahmy said.
As of Friday, USA Today reports that Medical staff with a helicopter were on standby to attend to the boy.
Khalid Agoram, the boy's father, said that he had been looking for his son for hours on Tuesday before discovering that the boy had fallen into the well.
The rescue operation has gripped Northern Africa for days. #SaveRayan has been trending as thousands of people monitor the updates from local media and local onlookers at the scene on social media.
