Agran in Morocco, February 6 (BNA): A 5-year-old boy who had been trapped for four days in a deep well in Morocco has died, the royal palace announced late Saturday night.
Moroccan King Mohammed VI expressed his condolences to the boy’s parents in a statement issued by the palace.
Boy Ryan was pulled by rescuers on Saturday evening after a lengthy operation that attracted global attention.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw the boy wrapped in a yellow blanket after emerging from a specially dug tunnel.
His parents Khaled Oram and Wassima Kharshash were taken to an ambulance before the boy was taken out. His plight captured worldwide attention.
The palace statement said the king was closely following the frantic rescue efforts by local authorities, and “instructed officials to use all necessary means to get the boy out of the well and return him alive to his parents.” The King commended the rescuers for their tireless work and the community for their support of Ryan’s family.
Hundreds of villagers and others gathered to watch the rescue operation, the Associated Press reported.
Messages of support and concern poured in from all over the world as rescue efforts continued for four days.
Rescuers used a rope to send oxygen and water to the boy, as well as a camera to monitor the baby. By Saturday morning, the head of the rescue committee, Abd al-Hadi al-Tamrani, said: “The child’s condition can never be determined at this time. But we hope to God that the child is alive.”
Rayan fell into a 32-meter-long well outside his home in the village of Igrane in the mountainous province of Chefchaouen, northern Morocco, on Tuesday evening.
For three days, the research crews used bulldozers to dig a parallel pit. Then, on Friday, they began digging a horizontal tunnel to reach the trapped boy. MAP said experts in topographic engineering were called in to help.
Speaking to local 2M TV on Saturday, Al-Tamrani said rescuers had only two meters left to dig to reach the hole in which the boy was trapped.
“The diggers encountered a hard rock on their way and were therefore very careful to avoid any landslides or fissures,” he said. “It took about five hours to get rid of the rock because the excavation was slow and was done in a careful way to avoid making cracks in the hole from below, which could threaten the life of the child as well as the rescue workers.”
The work was particularly difficult due to concerns that the soil around the well might collapse on the boy.
The village, with a population of about 500, is dotted with deep wells, most of which are covered with protective covers.
The circumstances of how the boy fell into the well are unclear.
Nationally, Moroccans have taken to social media to offer their hopes for the boy’s survival, using the hashtag #SaveRayan that has drawn global attention to the rescue effort.