In Morocco, a 5-year-old boy has died after being trapped in a well: NPR

IGHRAN, Morocco — The Moroccan royal palace said Saturday that a 5-year-old boy who was trapped in a deep well for four days has died.

Moroccan King Mohammed VI expressed his condolences to the boy’s parents in a statement issued by the palace.

The boy, Rayan, was rescued on Saturday night by rescuers after a lengthy operation that garnered worldwide attention.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw the boy wrapped in a yellow blanket after emerging from a tunnel dug specifically for the rescue.

His parents had been escorted to an ambulance before the boy came out. His plight had captured worldwide attention.

Online messages of support and concern for the boy poured in from around the world as rescue efforts dragged on into the night.

The teams tried to dig through a mountain to get to the boy.

Rescuers used a rope to send oxygen and water to the boy, as well as a camera to monitor him. On Saturday morning, the head of the rescue committee, Abdelhadi Temrani, said: “It is not possible to determine the condition of the child at this time. But we hope to God that the child is alive.”

Rayan fell into a 32-meter (105-foot) hole outside his home in the village of Ighran in Morocco’s mountainous northern Chefchaouen province on Tuesday night. He is now trapped in a hole too narrow for rescuers to reach safely.

For three days, search teams used bulldozers to dig a parallel trench. Then on Friday, they began digging a horizontal tunnel to get to the trapped boy. Morocco’s MAP news agency said topographical engineering experts were asked for help.

Temrani, speaking to local 2M television, said on Saturday that rescuers had only two meters (yards) of excavation left to reach the hole where the boy is trapped.

“The excavators encountered hard rock in their path and therefore took great care to avoid landslides or cracks,” he said. “It took about five hours to get rid of the rock because the excavation was slow and done carefully to avoid creating cracks in the hole from below, which could endanger the life of the boy and the rescuers.”

The work has been especially difficult due to fears that the land surrounding the well could collapse on the boy.

Her distraught parents were joined by hundreds of villagers and others who had gathered to watch the rescue operation.

Deep wells can be found throughout the town of Ighran.

The town of about 500 people is dotted with deep wells, many of which are used to irrigate cannabis cultivation, which is the main source of income for many in the poor, remote and arid Rif Mountains region of Morocco. Most wells have protective covers.

The exact circumstances of how the boy fell into the well are unclear.

Across the country, Moroccans took to social media to offer their hope that the boy survives, using the hashtag #SaveRayan, which has drawn global attention to the rescue efforts.