Heavy equipment was used to dig through a mountain on Friday during a mission to rescue a boy who fell into a hole in the northern village of Ighran in Morocco on Friday.
Mosa’ab Elshamy / AP
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Mosa’ab Elshamy / AP
Heavy equipment was used to dig through a mountain on Friday during a mission to rescue a boy who fell into a hole in the northern village of Ighran in Morocco on Friday.
Mosa’ab Elshamy / AP
IGHRAN, Morocco – Efforts to rescue a 5-year-old boy trapped in a well in Morocco extended into Wednesday and Saturday, with unstable soil threatening the hard work of trying to dig the boy out. outside safe. The fear that it may be too late.
Online messages of support and concern for little Rayan, were sent in from around the world as rescue efforts dragged on throughout the night.
Rescuers used ropes to bring oxygen and water down to the boy as well as cameras to monitor the boy. By Saturday morning, the head of the rescue committee, Abdelhadi Temrani, said: “The condition of the child is still unknown. But we hope to God that the child is still alive.”
Rayan fell into a 32-meter (105-foot) well located outside his home in the village of Ighran in Morocco’s northern mountainous Chefchaouen province on Tuesday night. He is now trapped in a hole too narrow for rescuers to reach safely.
Search teams dug a horizontal tunnel to try to reach the boy
For three days, search teams used bulldozers to dig a parallel ditch. Then, on Friday, they began digging a horizontal tunnel to reach the trapped boy. Morocco’s MAP news agency reports that experts in the field of topographic engineering have been called for help.
Rescuers tried to build a tunnel on Friday to rescue a 5-year-old boy who fell into a hole in the village of Ighran.
Mosa’ab Elshamy / AP
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Mosa’ab Elshamy / AP
Rescuers tried to build a tunnel on Friday to rescue a 5-year-old boy who fell into a hole in the village of Ighran.
Mosa’ab Elshamy / AP
Temrani, told local TV channel 2M, on Saturday said rescuers had only two meters left to dig to reach the hole where the boy was trapped.
“The diggers encountered a hard rock on the way, and so they had to be very careful to avoid any landslides or cracks,” he said. “It took about five hours to get out of the rock because the digging was very slow and was done carefully to avoid creating cracks in the hole from below, which could be life-threatening for the child. as well as the lifeguards.”
The job was especially difficult because of fears that the soil around the well could fall on the boy.
Paramedics, including resuscitation specialists, were on site to care for the boy after he was pulled out, with a helicopter on standby to transport him to the hospital. nearest hospital.
Civil defense officers and local authorities attempted to rescue the 5-year-old on Friday.
Mosa’ab Elshamy / AP
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Mosa’ab Elshamy / AP
Civil defense officers and local authorities attempted to rescue the 5-year-old on Friday.
Mosa’ab Elshamy / AP
His distraught parents were joined by hundreds of villagers and others who had gathered to watch the rescue operation.
The village of about 500 people is dotted with deep wells, many of which are used to irrigate cannabis plants, the main source of income for many in the poor, remote and arid region of Morocco’s Rif Mountains. Most wells have a protective cap.
The exact circumstances of how the boy fell into the well are unknown.
Nationwide, Moroccans took to social media to express hope for the boy’s survival, using the hashtag #SaveRayan which has drawn global attention to the rescue efforts.
