The five-year-old boy who had been trapped in a deep, dry well in southeast Afghanistan since Tuesday died shortly after being rescued on Friday, despite efforts by the Taliban authorities determined to show they are fully at the service of the people .
Posted at 7:50 a.m.
The child, named Haidar, “has left us forever”, tweeted Anas Haqqani, senior adviser to the Ministry of the Interior. “This is another day of mourning and grief for our country.”
Haidar “is no longer with us”, confirmed, also on Twitter, Abdullah Azzam, secretary to Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar.
Rescuers reached Friday morning the child, who had slipped to the bottom of this earthen pit in the village of Shokak, located in the province of Zabul, about 400 km southwest of the capital Kabul.
PHOTO JAVED TANVEER, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
He was still alive and “breathing” when they arrived at his side, said Zabiullah Jawhar, the Zabul police spokesman.
“The medical team gave him oxygen. But when she tried to take him to the helicopter, he lost his life,” he added.
The accident was reminiscent of that in early February in Morocco of little Rayan, 5, who fell to the bottom of a dry well and was found lifeless after five days of relentless efforts by rescuers.
The tragedy had caused considerable emotion, amplified by social networks, in Morocco and around the world.
Haidar’s grandfather, Haji Abdul Hadi, 50, told AFP the child fell into the hole while trying to “help” the adults drill a new well in the drought-ravaged village. .
According to official sources, the child slipped into this 25m deep hole, before being pulled with the help of a rope to a depth of about ten meters, where he found himself stuck .
Rescuers opened a large oblique trench in the earth with diggers to access where he was stuck. But, forced to proceed with caution when approaching the shaft to prevent it from collapsing, they were then slowed in their efforts by the rocky terrain.
wide rock
Relief operations were overseen by Taliban government envoys, under the curious eyes of hundreds of residents, many of whom belonged to the child’s family.
The Taliban ensured that the best possible clearing equipment was made available to rescuers, as well as one of the few helicopters available to evacuate Haidar in an emergency.
Some Taliban officials have released videos of the relief operations and praised the new regime — fiercely criticized for violating human rights — as proof that it spares no effort to best serve every citizen.
“Our prayers were not enough, but it united everyone and we showed everyone that all Afghan lives are precious,” a Taliban official tweeted.
Videos posted Thursday on social media showed the boy wearing a blue sweater, sitting stuck in the well, shoulders against the wall, and could visibly move his arms and upper body slightly.
There was also a lamp suspended in front of the child, which lit up the bottom of the well. These images had been obtained by a camera lowered with a wire.
In one of the videos, the child could be heard crying and moaning, and in another talking with his father, in a more distant voice.
“Haidar, speak with me, we are trying to get you out. Are you okay my son? Talk to me and don’t cry, we are working to get you out,” the father said.
“Okay, I’ll keep talking,” the boy answered in a small plaintive voice.
A large boulder hampered the rescuers’ final approach, forcing them to use pickaxes to avoid shaking the ground too much and wasting precious time.