Video: Morocco rescuers dig for boy trapped in well
Country holds its breath as boy awaits rescue from 32-metre deep well
Dubai: Emergency services worked Thursday to rescue a five-year-old boy trapped in a deep well for two days in Morocco, in the village of Timorous, near Chefchaouen Province in the north. The boy, named as Rayan, had fallen down the narrow 32-metre well.
A video shows dozens of rescue workers around the well using all equipment and doing their utmost to save the boy, while residents from the village and the nearby areas have gathered around the site watching rescue operations and holding their breath as the tragic incident is now gaining national attention.
The ongoing rescue operation began at 5pm on Tuesday as emergency services tried to free him after it was confirmed that he is still alive.
According to local authorities, emergency services captured images of Rayan by sending down a smartphone attached to a cord which showed he was still breathing and moving. The recordings were widely shared on Moroccan social media.
The rescue operation is complicated because the shaft is only between one and one-and-a-half metre wide. There have been two attempts to have a rescuer descend into the well.
Rayan's fate sparked an outpouring of sympathy online, with the Arabic hashtag #SaveRayan going viral across the Maghreb region.
"The heart of every Moroccan is with this angel," one person wrote on Twitter.