Boy dies after being trapped in deep well in Morocco for 4 days

A 5-year-old boy who was trapped for four days deep inside a 105-foot well in Morocco died on Saturday, shortly after rescuers pulled him from the underground hole.

The boy’s death was announced by the royal palace in Morocco on Saturday, The Associated Press reported. Earlier in the day, responders finally managed to get the boy out of the deep well following a days-long rescue operation.

Sometime around Tuesday evening, the boy, Rayan, fell into the well outside his home village of Ighran, located in the mountainous province of the African country, according to the AP. Rayan’s father told French publication LE360 that his son had fallen into the well while playing near him.

As the rescue operation was underway, the crisis attracted international attention and videos of the boy inside the well were shared widely online. In images and videos, the boy seemed scared but was still breathing, which kept people’s hopes alive that he could be rescued.

Since the well was too deep and narrow to lift Rayan directly out, crews responded with bulldozers to dig a parallel ditch to reach the boy and then later began excavating a tunnel, working with careful precision so as not to collapse the well, according to the AP.

Rescuers sent oxygen and water down to the boy to keep him alive and lowered down a camera, per the wire service.

Hundreds of onlookers watched the rescue operation unfold this week, with the hashtag #SaveRayan trending online.

A local farmer, Bouselham Lahrech, told Al Jazeera he thought of Rayan like his own son.

“It’s like one of our own children has fallen,” he said. “We’re praying for his safety, he’s one of our children.”

The operation finally succeeded on Saturday when the horizontal tunnel reached Rayan. An AP reporter witnessed the boy was wrapped in a yellow blanket as responders carried him out of the well, per the wire service.

The royal palace in Morocco released a statement in which the country’s king offered his condolences to Rayan’s parents, according to the AP.