His story moved well beyond the borders of Morocco. It is almost 10 p.m., Saturday February 5, when the news that has the whole kingdom in suspense finally comes: “Little Rayan has just been extracted from the well in which he fell on Tuesday, but we have no knowledge of his state of health at this time”, announces Al Jazeera (article in English). On the images of the channel, which broadcasts live the smallest actions and gestures of the rescuers mobilized since Tuesday evening to try to save the little boy aged 5, we see a crowd massed around the place of the tragedy, forming with the rescuers an impressive guard of honor at the passage of the child, whose body is embarked in an ambulance.
We learn a few minutes later, by a press release from the King of Morocco, that the boy did not survive. “Following the tragic incident which claimed the life of the child Rayan Aourram, His Majesty King Mohammed VI (…) had a telephone call with Mr. Khaled Aourram and Mrs. Ouassima Kharchich, parents of the deceased who died following his fall in a well, writes the monarch, as reported by the Moroccan newspaper The morning.
In Morocco, as everywhere in the world, hope immediately gives way to pain. On social networks, tributes are multiplying. The hashtag bearing the child’s first name quickly invades social networks. With in particular this drawing by the artist mohamed elkho representing the child ascending to heaven hanging from a heart-shaped balloon and flocked with the flag of Morocco. Personalities, such as PSG footballer Achraf Hakimi or Algerian AC Milan international Ismaël Bennacer, post messages of support for the little boy’s family, rescuers and the Moroccan people.
إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون pic.twitter.com/HKqKymvYGA
— Achraf Hakimi (@AchrafHakimi) February 5, 2022
Rayan’s courage will be remembered and will continue to inspire us.
The dedication of the Moroccan people and of the rescuers as well.
Huge thoughts to parents and loved ones. May Allah grant this warrior the highest degree of paradise. pic.twitter.com/Bl4PEODUy6
— Ismael Bennacer (@IsmaelBennacer) February 5, 2022
In France, Emmanuel Macron and several presidential candidates, such as Yannick Jadot Where Anne Hidalgo, also expressed their emotion after this tragic outcome.
The race against time to save the young child had started four days earlier. Tuesday, February 1, around 2 p.m., Rayan Aourram fell into a well more than 30 meters deep that his father was repairing, not far from the family home, located in Ighrane.
This village of 500 inhabitants in the province of Chefchaouen, in the north of Morocco, has the particularity of sheltering many deep wells, used to irrigate crops and in particular that of cannabis. In this arid and mountainous area, the cultivation of cannabis plants is one of the only sources of income for the locals, according to Al Jazeera (article in English).
While the exact circumstances of the child’s fall remain unclear, his family decides to quickly raise the alarm. “I was repairing my well, Rayan was next to me, at one point he fell. I didn’t realize it. We alerted the authorities and all the inhabitants came to support us”, says the father of the child, interviewed by the Moroccan news site Le360. DDozens of rescuers are then dispatched to the scene. But they realize that the operation will be much more delicate than expected.
The 32-metre-deep dry well is only 45 centimeters wide at its top and narrows further towards the bottom. For the rescuers, descending directly into the well is therefore impossible. Faced with the risk of landslide, the hypothesis of widening the shaft to be able to enter it is abandoned.
The next day, the village, which closely followed the rescue operations, witnessed the incessant ballet of diggers used to dig around the well. To reach a depth of 32 meters, the digging is first carried out vertically and then horizontally. “to create a space of three meters between the well and the hole”, according to the rescuers in charge of this operation.
#Chefchaouen
The rescue operation for little Rayan continues. The 5-year-old child, very weak, is still alive. Excavators are still trying to clear the earth around the very narrow well where the little one has been trapped since Tuesday afternoon. pic.twitter.com/Bama9JV3AJ— 2M.ma (@2MInteractive) February 3, 2022
A drilling on tiptoe, very cautious to avoid any subsidence of the well dug in this sandy soil, is then undertaken. An endless operation: witnesses on the spot interviewed by the local media report that the rescuers can only dig 20 centimeters per hour.
Less than nine meters remain to dig to reach Rayan, the little boy stuck in a well 32 meters deep for 48 hours, in the town of Tamrout in Bab Berred, near Chefchaouen. pic.twitter.com/C1LYJ5uCUx
— Le360 (@Le360fr) February 3, 2022
But rescuers like Moroccans believe in it. UA follow-up and rescue committee is set up, and while the delicate digging operation continues, the rescuers manage to get in touch with Rayan. The latter indeed decide to send him water and oxygen, as reported by the newspaper The Observer of Morocco and Africa.
Thanks to the black and white images of a camera sent to the bottom of the well, we see the little boy weakened and injured, but still alive. “I managed to speak with the child. I asked him if he could hear me and there was a response. I waited for a minute and saw that he was starting to use the oxygen”, notably assured one of the rescuers at the Hespress site.
MOROCCO: video of Rayan stuck at the bottom of the well. The tubes serve to supply it with oxygen. #rayan #Morocco pic.twitter.com/ca137c3QLC
— Actualiste (@Actualistes) February 4, 2022
This video is doing the rounds on social media. On Friday, as the outcome nears, the entire country holds its breath and people across the region of Chefchaouen rush to see with their own eyes the end of the relief operations.
As a sign of support for Rayan’s family and for the rescuers who have been tirelessly mobilized for four days now, thousands of people sing songs and pray near the well. Some decide to cook hot meals for the rescuers and several local media, such as the Moroccan public television channel 2M, even report that Moroccans have decided to sleep there, despite the freezing temperatures at this time of year in the region. .
But the momentum of solidarity will not have been enough. Saturday, around 5 p.m., the rescuers manage to penetrate to the pocket in which Rayan is. Shortly before 10 p.m., when they manage to get the little boy back on a stretcher, the crowd gathered near the huge crater still believes in the miracle. But a few minutes later, it’s the shock. Reporters on site confirm that Rayan’s body, which was loaded into the ambulance, is lifeless. A little earlier, King Mohammed VI had contacted the parents to offer them his condolences.
In a few days, Rayan will have become the face of Morocco, of a united people ready to do anything to save one of their children. A global drama reminiscent of that of a 2-year-old boy who lost his life after falling into a well 25 centimeters in diameter and more than 100 meters deep at the beginning of 2019 in Spain, Andalusia. The body of little Julen had been found by rescuers after thirteen days of research and the deployment of a similar rescue operation.