It took more than a hundred hours of excavation to reach Rayan, the 5-year-old boy who on Tuesday fell into a well in Morocco, stuck at a depth of 32 meters in a hole only 20 centimeters wide in some places.
The whole world stood for days with bated breath and breathed a sigh of relief when last night the news of the rescue was given: the little one had been extracted from that huge hole. But after a few minutes the cold shower: Rayan died. And, according to the release of the Royal House of Morocco, the cause of death would be the injuries sustained in the fall.
The deployment of forces in the field was enormous, a fact that had a worldwide impact. Ali El Jajaoui, a well specialist who, as soon as he heard the news of the child, immediately left the south of the country to reach the village of Rayan, had also arrived from Erfoud on the spot. And for hours he dug with his bare hands after an impressive work of 5 excavators had opened a chasm that allowed him to reach the depth where the child was and to create an escape route by laying pipes horizontally so as to form a passage to bring the little one back to the light.
In recent days Rayan has been monitored by some mobile phones with video cameras, he has been provided with food and water. His father said yesterday that he was also able to hear some noises: the son was breathing hard. He had head injuries, he called Mom.
But when the drama seemed to be drawing to a happy conclusion, the dreaded news arrived: the child didn't make it. Just as Alfredino Rampi couldn't make it, a story similar to this one that dates back to 1981 when, near Vermicino, the 6-year-old boy fell into a well and the rescuers were unable to save him: "Dramatic to see that history repeats itself ", said Daniele Biondo, president of the association named after Alfredino." Whoever managed the Rayan affair perhaps repeated the mistakes of the past made in Italy in Vermicino - added Biondo - At the time, the presence of many people on site it was one of the obstacles, not only physical but also psychological, for the rescuers put under pressure, as we have seen all that crowd on the spot in Chefchaouen ".
(Unioneonline / ss)
