On Saturday, rescuers were carefully removing boulders as they dug towards a small kid who had been stranded in a well in northern Morocco for five days, a perilous operation continuously jeopardized by the potential of landslides.
After falling into a 32-metre (100-foot) deep hole in the hills near Chefchaouen on Tuesday, workers with mechanical diggers have been working around the clock to save the 5-year-old boy, who has been known only as Rayan.
Rayan’s father, who stood watching rescue efforts on Friday night wearing a traditional hooded woolen robe against the cold, stated in a strained, scarcely audible voice, “People who love us are sparing no effort to save my child.”
Rayan was photographed hunched at the bottom of the hole, which narrows as it falls from 45 cm (18 inches) broad at the top, making rescuers unable to descend.
Hundreds of locals waited for news as the rescue attempt progressed, with workers in high-visibility vests and helmets dragging stretchers, ropes, tackle, and other equipment down into a hole excavated parallel to the well.
As they dig, the rescuers are inserting concrete tubes into the horizontal tunnel in order to lift Rayan to safety.
Rayan’s family initially realized he was gone when they heard muffled crying and lowered a phone with its light and camera on to locate him, a male member told reporters.
“He was wailing, ‘pull me up,'” recounted a relative.
In the winter, the steep territory around Chefchaouen is very cold, and while food has been brought down to Rayan, it is unclear whether he has eaten anything. A tube has also been used to deliver water and oxygen to him.
