Moroccan rescuers began the last, very delicate and risky phase of drilling on Friday to try to extract Rayan, a five-year-old child who fell four days ago into a deep well.
The tension remained palpable all day at the scene of the accident. ” We are almost there. We’ve been working hard for three days. Fatigue is felt but all the rescue teams are resisting despite the unexpected, ”explains a works supervisor, Abdesalam Makoudi.
Rayan would be alive
The boy accidentally fell on Tuesday afternoon into the dry, narrow and difficult to access well dug near the family residence in the village of Ighrane, near Bab Berred, in the province of Chefchaouen, in the north of the kingdom. . Rescuers brought oxygen and water to the bottom of the cramped well, suggesting Rayan is still alive, according to local media.
The rescue operation has entered a decisive phase, local authorities said, with the start of the drilling of a three-meter horizontal tunnel to reach the child.
Mechanical machines had previously cleared the ground around the 32-meter-deep well. At the same time, an operation to stabilize the surrounding terrain was carried out, allowing the tunnel to be dug and securing access for rescuers. These very slow operations are complex because of the risk of landslide due to the nature of the soil, some layers being sandy and others rocky.
A team stands ready to rescue the child from the horizontal breach. A medical helicopter is ready to take care of him.
Dig around the well
Several scenarios have been studied to save little Rayan. At first, the rescue teams tried to descend directly into the well, an operation aborted because its diameter does not exceed 45 centimeters. They thought of widening the diameter of the well, an operation impossible because of the risk of a landslide.
The only solution: dig around the well.
Rayan is much loved here in the village
“In a moment of inattention, the little one fell into the well that I was repairing,” testified Rayan’s father.
“Rayan is very much loved here in the village, not just at home, I miss him, it’s been three nights,” said his septuagenarian grandmother Laaziza.
“Our hearts are with the family and we pray to God that he finds his loved ones as soon as possible,” said government spokesman Mustapha Baitas after the weekly government council.
The child’s survival has aroused a lot of sympathy and solidarity on social networks, even in neighboring and yet rival Algeria.
Very strong emotion in Morocco and Algeria
The direct broadcasts of several Moroccan media are followed minute by minute by hundreds of thousands of Internet users, hanging on to the fate of the child. The hashtag #sauvezrayan (in Arabic) is still one of the main trends on Twitter in Morocco.
Moroccan international and PSG star Achraf Hakimi shared an illustration on Instagram, accompanied by two emojis: the broken heart and the folded hands of prayer. Algerian Riyad Mahrez, star of Manchester City, was not left out, sharing on Facebook a photo of Rayan lined with the hashtag #Stay Strong (Stay Strong).
The emotion is such that the inhabitants of the region flocked “in large numbers” to the scene of the tragedy – sitting patiently around the well – but sometimes hindering the work of the rescue teams. “Rescuers work in very difficult conditions. We call on citizens to let them work to save this child,” Mr. Baitas urged.