“I am completely devastated”: Morocco shocked by the tragic death of little Rayan

Morocco was shocked on Sunday, the day after the discovery of the lifeless body of little Rayan, who accidentally fell into a well earlier this week and rescuers were unable to save, despite five days of relentless efforts, which were observed by the whole world.

The case of “little Rayan”captured world attention since last Tuesday he fell into a 32-meter-deep well, which led to a complex operation to remove him without knowing if he was alive.

LOOK: Rayan dies, the 5-year-old boy who managed to get out of a well in Morocco after four days trapped

Shortly before 10:00 p.m. (9:00 p.m. GMT) on Saturday, AFP journalists observed the parents of Rayan with a contorted face when they entered the open tunnel to access the well, from which the child would come out.

They came out soon after and left in an ambulance without saying a word. After a moment of confusion, the crowd that waited for days dispersed in a gloomy silenceconfirmed the AFP.

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“After the tragic accident that cost the life of the boy Rayan Oram, His Majesty King Mohamed VI called the parents of the deceased, who died after falling into a well”the Moroccan royal cabinet said in a statement.

Rayan’s body was extracted shortly before the 32-meter deep well through a tunnel dug by rescuers.. He was taken to an ambulance, along with his parents, without it being immediately known if he was alive.

People watch as Moroccan emergency teams work to rescue Rayan. (Fadel SENNA / AFP).

The outcome of the operation was anxiously awaited both in the Maghreb kingdom and in the rest of the world, with messages of solidarity and encouragement that flooded social networks.

“I am completely devastated”reacted an Internet user who was following the events on his Twitter account.

But the reactions came from all corners of the world after the news of the minor’s death.

“I want to tell the family of little Rayan and the Moroccan people that we share their pain,” the French president wrote on Facebook, Emmanuel Macron.

“The courage of Rayan It will remain in our memories and will continue to inspire us.” AC Milan’s Algerian midfielder Ismael Bennacer wrote on Twitter, alongside a drawing of a boy lifted into the sky by a balloon in the shape of a football.

Moroccan emergency services are working to rescue five-year-old boy Rayan from a well into which he fell on February 1. (Fadel SENNA / AFP).

“Hero”

Reaching the bend into which the boy had fallen on Tuesday required a deployment of bulldozers and precision work. In the final phase, the operations were carried out manually, to avoid vibrations that could cause a collapse, the authorities of the town of Ighran, not far from the town of Bab Berred, in the Moroccan province of Chefchaouen, explained to AFP.

A helicopter with medical supplies was soon at the scene for an eventual transfer.

In the images obtained by a sonar camera, Rayan He appeared “lying on his back” in the bend of that narrow well, without it being possible to say if he was alive, one of the leaders of the rescue team, Abdelhadi Tamrani, explained on Saturday morning.

Rescuers sent him oxygen and water through tubes and bottles, without any certainty that the boy had used them.

At dawn, a large rock hindered the tunnel construction work, until it was managed after three hours of effort, with the help of small electrical equipment.

Moroccan authorities and firefighters are working to pull five-year-old boy Rayan out of a well into which he fell. (STR/AFP).

Thousands of people came to show their solidarity and camped there despite the freezing cold of this mountainous area of ​​the Rif, at an altitude of about 700 meters.

Loud applause greeted each appearance of the excavatorsLike volunteer Ali Sahraoui, a man in his 50s who dug the first few meters with his bare hands and became a hero on social media.

Police deployed reinforcements to prevent the crowd from disrupting rescue efforts.

The tragedy began with the disappearance of the child on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. local time (1:00 p.m. GMT): “The whole family mobilized to look for him until we realized that he had fallen into the well,” said the mother of the child, in tears. little boy.

This accident recalls 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 recovered 13 days later.

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Source: Elcomercio