Little Rayan did not make it: he was pulled out of the well, but died of injuries sustained during the fall, Moroccan authorities said.
Local TV images showed rescuers carrying the five-year-old boy out of the well he fell into on Tuesday in Tamrout, a village in the north of the country.
Rayan was taken away by helicopter rescue to the nearest hospital, then the authorities announced: "He died from his injuries sustained in the fall."
He did not make it: he struggled to stay alive for more than a hundred hours 32 meters underground, swallowed by a very narrow well, in some places only 20 centimeters in diameter, which did not allow rescuers to lower themselves down.
While the whole of Morocco, and beyond, was following the race against time to save him live, in the afternoon the announcement of the rescue manager arrived: "Rayan is alive, we will get him out today". A medical team was waiting for him at the entrance to the tunnel through which the rescuers managed to reach him, as well as an ambulance for transport by helicopter to the hospital. Hundreds of people around the well cheered their heroes (above all the volunteer Ali ) and prayed for the child.
An immense rescue operation: first five excavators opened a chasm that made it possible to reach the depth where the child was and to create an escape route through the laying of pipes that created the passage of salvation. Then the volunteers dug with their bare hands, amidst a thousand uncertainties and with the risk of fatal landslides.
Rayan, for his part, held out for days, encouraged by those who spoke to him, refueled with water and food and helped by a tube dropped by the rescuers to supply him with oxygen: but not enough.
The rescuers today entered the tunnel one at a time, they placed ropes and protective vests and even a small stretcher, while around the well many people gathered to pray and follow the story. They managed to get it out, but too late.
An obstacle course and against time that in Italy brought back to mind June 1981 and the tragedy of little Alfredino Rampi. The whole country with bated breath, prayers, volunteers trying to descend into the well as did Angelo Licheri in Vermicino. Until the tragic epilogue.
(Unioneonline / L)