Moroccan boy who fell down well has died

Five-year-old Rayan fell roughly 100 feet down a narrow well shaft on Tuesday in Bab Berred, a town in Morocco’s northern province. Crews worked around the clock to excavate the area and rescue him, but the unstable ground and faulty machinery prolonged the operation. They brought him up on Saturday night, but Moroccan King Mohammed VI said he did not survive.

How did they get him out? Two tubes delivered oxygen and water down the shaft, which was less than 20 inches in diameter, preventing rescuers from simply going down after him. Five bulldozers dug first vertically along a parallel route and then worked horizontally to reach him. By Friday afternoon, the camera appeared to show Rayan breathing. Rescuers had just 10 feet left to reach him, but they had to dig by hand through hard rock to keep the tunnel from collapsing. Hundreds of bystanders flocked to the site to pray and assist rescue crews.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read Angela Lu Fulton’s report about a Thai boy and his soccer teammates who were rescued from a cave in 2018.