Rescuers work for the fourth day to save a boy who fell into a well in Morocco

Rescuers are working this Friday for the fourth consecutive day to get alive a five-year-old boy who fell into a well in a town in northern Morocco, an operation that has the country in suspense.

The hustle and bustle of machinery to clear the land next to the 32-meter well did not stop all night, a journalist from the AFP.

According to local authorities, the backhoes managed to reach a depth of 28 meters and are starting to dig a tunnel to the well where little Rayan is trapped.

But this phase of the operation is delicate due to the risk of landslides, they added.

Part of the complexity is due to the type of terrain, which has some sandy and some rocky layers.

The boy, whose fate has the country in suspense and has attracted international media attention, accidentally fell Tuesday night into the 32-meter-deep, narrow and difficult-to-access dry well dug near his home in a village near the town of Bab Berred, in northern Morocco.

It is not yet known if the boy is still alive, but rescuers were able to send water and oxygen to the bottom of the dry well.

“Hope”

Rayan’s mother told the local press with tears in her eyes that “she still has hope that the child will be taken out alive.”

“Rayan was playing and then he disappeared around 2:00 p.m. The whole family mobilized to look for him until we realized that he had fallen into the well, ”said the woman.

A medical team has been deployed to the accident site to “carry out the initial examinations and resuscitation of the child once rescued,” the MAP news agency said.

In addition, a medicalized helicopter was mobilized in case of emergency.

“Our hearts go out to the family and we pray to God that he will be reunited with his relatives as soon as possible,” Executive spokesman Mustapha Baitas said this week.

At first the rescue teams thought of going directly into the well, but its narrow diameter of 45 centimeters made this strategy impossible. Later they thought of widening the hole, but discarded this idea due to the risk of a landslide.

So they began to dig another ditch.

“Resist!”

The tragedy of little Rayan caused a stir in the country and the live broadcasts of the rescue by various local media feed the expectation on the internet about the fate of the child.

The Twitter hashtag #salvenarayan (in Arabic) continues to trend in Morocco with messages of support.

“Hold on little Rayan, please hold on,” implored a netizen on the social network.

The media attention generated a significant flow of onlookers from nearby towns, which sometimes makes rescue efforts difficult.

This accident recalled a tragedy that occurred in Spain in 2019 when a two-year-old boy died after falling into an abandoned well 24 centimeters in diameter and more than 100 meters deep in Andalusia.

After a major operation, the remains of the minor were rescued after a deployment that lasted 13 days. (I)