Rabat, Feb. 4 (BNA): Rescue workers frantically search in northern Morocco for the second day in a row to reach a 5-year-old boy trapped at a depth of 32 meters (105 feet), according to the Associated Press.
The boy has been stuck in a well in the northern village of Igrane in the Moroccan state of Chefchaouen, since Tuesday evening. Rescuers said Thursday that they were able to get oxygen and water to him, and they received a response from him.
“I pray and beg God that he gets out of this place alive and safe,” his mother, Wasima Kharsheesh, told local 2M TV. “Please, God, ease my pain and aches, in that pit of dust.”
Khaled Aghuram, the boy’s father, told another local radio that he had been searching for his son for hours on Tuesday before finding out he had fallen into the well.
Rescue workers used a rope to supply the boy with a tube of oxygen and water, but they were unable to reach the hole where he was trapped. They also sent a surveillance camera, according to MAP.
MAP said rescue workers used five bulldozers to dig a hole parallel to the well in an attempt to reach the boy, known as Rayan. Local officials said rescuers have so far reached 19 meters.
“I was able to reach the child and asked if he could hear me. There was a response. I waited a minute and saw that he started using oxygen,” Red Crescent volunteer Emad Fahmy told 2M.
Medical staff are on site to take care of the baby, with a helicopter on standby to take him to the nearest hospital.
Government Spokesperson Mustafa Petsas said, Thursday, that the government is closely monitoring the situation, and is studying various ways to help save the child.
Thousands of Moroccans took to social media to express their sympathy with the boy and his family. The hashtag #SaveRayan has been trending for hours in Morocco, and Twitter posts have drawn global attention to the rescue effort.
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