Rabat – After a grueling four-day rescue operation, the body of five year-old Rayane was freed from the well where he has been stuck since Tuesday, medical staff confirmed his death shortly after they took him out of the well.
Medical staff and a helicopter had been on standby near the rescue site to immediately provide the boy with the required medical attention.
Rayane fell down a well in his commune of Tamorot, near Chefchaouen, on Tuesday and has been stuck there ever since.
The rescue took several days, as civil protection personnel had to dig a vast hole, parallel to the well where the boy was stuck. They then dug horizontally to reach and attempt to rescue him.
Read also: A Timeline Of Rayan’s Rescue Operation
The digging operations had to be stopped from time to time to avoid dirt and rock from collapsing around the well.
The ground around the well was stabilized by pipes, so as to ensure the safety of rescuers from a collapse.
Hundreds of locals convened and crowded around the rescue site, watching breathlessly in anticipation of the little boy’s rescue.
Morocco’s government had promised to exhaust all capacities in order to rescue the boy, whose plight became a matter of national concern.
Read also: World Breathlessly Watches Rescue of 5-Year Old Rayan
Rayane was given a supply of oxygen, dropped to him by a rope, and was being monitored around the clock via a camera that was dropped in a similar manner.
The case garnered significant attention, both in Morocco and internationally, as news organizations and celebrities expressed wishes for the boy’s safe rescue online.
The hashtag #SaveRayane trended on social media across the Arab world, and several embassies and international organizations expressed wishes for the boy’s rescue.
