Moroccan boy trapped in well dies before rescue

A five year old boy who was trapped in a well in northern Morocco for five days has died.

Rescue workers retrieved the body of Rayan Awram late on Saturday.

Footage from the scene showed hundreds of distraught onlookers gathered at the site chanting and shining their phone’s flashlights.
Rayan fell into the well at his village of Ighran on Tuesday and was discovered after his family heard him crying.

The well was only 18 inches wide at the top and tapered as it dropped 100 feet to the bottom, making it impossible for rescuers to descend directly to where Rayan was trapped.

They attempted to keep him alive by lowering food, water and oxygen through a tube.

All the while rescuers worked around the clock cutting a massive trench through the hillside, then tunneling horizontally towards the child, with a constant risk of triggering landslides.

They were eventually able to access the well late on Saturday, and carried his body to a waiting ambulance.

The King of Morocco telephoned the child’s parents to offer his condolences.