Ekeomah Atuonwu
It has been 5 days since 5-year old Rayan fell into a well and got trapped in Northern Morocco and rescue workers are closer to reaching the boy.
The event that that gripped the whole country occurred on Tuesday, February 1, 2022 in the hill town of Chefchaouen.
The boy’s mother told Moroccan media that Rayan had been playing nearby when he disappeared on Tuesday afternoon.
The rescue teams have been working around the clock, turning the landscape into a construction site. To support them, thousands of people gathered around the site of the accident.
The well is 32 metres (100 feet) deep and narrows as it descends from a 45 cm (18 inches) diameter at the top, which means rescuers cannot go down themselves to retrieve the child. The operation is complex and risky as the mix of sandy and rocky soils increase the risk of a landslide.
Image credit: Twitter – Maaz Chaudhary /Courtesy/
They were digging horizontally towards the well by Saturday morning, and erecting PVC tubes to prevent landslides and pull the boy out. “We are rushing to get to Rayan and digging is going as planned,” lead rescuer Abdelhadi Tamrani told state TV 2AM early Saturday.
Image: Twitter/AhmdAlmaimoni/
On Friday, a rescuer told state news site SNRT News that the youngster was still alive. In the winter, the steep territory around Chefchaouen is very cold, and while food has been brought down to Rayan, it is unclear whether he has eaten anything.
A tube has also been used to deliver water and oxygen to him and can monitor his health with a remote camera.
The drama has sparked an outpouring of sympathy online, with the hashtag #SaveRayan going viral across North Africa.
Image: Nationsonline /Courtesy/
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