(Ighrane) Shock and sadness. A wave of emotion in Morocco and around the world accompanied the tragic death of little Rayan, stuck for five days at the bottom of a well in a poor region in the north of the kingdom, a human drama amplified by social networks.
Posted at 2:59 p.m.
“The silence is terrible this morning in the village. Everyone was praying that he would come out alive. Everyone cried, ”testified a relative of the family.
“I couldn’t sleep for those five days. I have a child the same age as Rayan. I think of him every time I look at my little one,” neighbor Mounir Adbib told AFP.
The child’s funeral is scheduled for Monday in the village of Ighrane (north), where the tragedy unfolded, said a cousin of the child and a deputy from the province of Chefchaouen, Abderrahim Bouazza.
No official information has filtered on a possible autopsy. The body of the 5-year-old boy was transported to the military hospital in Rabat.
“The world mourns Rayan… The fall of a child reminded the whole world of the values of humanity,” commented the site of public television SNRT.
Abroad, Pope Francis, visibly moved, greeted “a whole (Moroccan) people who came together to save Rayan”, during the Angelus prayer celebrated in the Vatican. “They tried everything, unfortunately he didn’t survive. But what an example. Thank you to these people for this testimony,” Francis said.
“Patience and Comfort”
A sign of the intense emotion caused by the tragedy, it was the royal cabinet which announced the death of the child on Saturday evening.
King Mohammed VI himself called Rayan’s parents to offer his condolences.
“We thank His Majesty the King, the authorities and all those who have helped us. May God be praised, may He have mercy on the dead,” the father, Khaled Aourram, declared on television, his face defeated.
In Rabat, the capital of the kingdom, the inhabitants met are in shock.
“It’s a disaster, let’s hope (Rayan’s) soul rests in peace. We wish his parents and all his family patience and comfort, ”summarizes a passerby.
All pay tribute to the tireless efforts of the rescuers.
The five-day race against time by the rescuers was followed live by countless Internet users.
And as soon as the death was announced, tributes on social networks poured in from all over the world, from neighboring and rival Algeria to France or the United States, in all languages.
“Little angel, you fought until the end, a hero”, greeted a surfer on Twitter. “He will have succeeded where leaders and the media have failed. He brought people together around him, ”added another Internet user.
A dissonant voice though. A user lamented a “dystopian world in which all Arab nations are moved by the rescue of a child in Morocco while dozens die every day of famine or under bombardments in Yemen, Syria”, before adding: “ NB: All lives matter”.
“Dangerous Adventure”
Rayan had accidentally fallen on Tuesday into a 32-meter dry well, narrow and difficult to access, dug near the family home in the village of Ighrane, in the province of Chefchaouen (north).
Entering a horizontal breach on Saturday, the rescuers had continued their work centimeter by centimeter, digging by hand to avoid any landslide.
PHOTO ABDELHAK BALHAKI, REUTERS
Entering a horizontal breach on Saturday, the rescuers had continued their work centimeter by centimeter, digging by hand to avoid any landslide.
Until Friday, rescuers had tried to send oxygen and water through tubes and bottles down to Rayan, without certainty that he could use them.
As soon as the drama broke out, thousands of supporters came running in a sign of solidarity and camped on the spot, in this mountainous area of the Rif, at an altitude of nearly 700 meters.
A volunteer driller, Ali Sahraoui, a 50-year-old who dug the earth with his hands during the rescue operation, became for a time the “hero” of social networks.
“It was a dangerous adventure with a lot of risk, but we had hope to get him out alive,” he told AFP.
On Sunday, work began to fill in the shaft and the relief tunnel, according to AFP journalists.
This accident echoed a tragedy that occurred in early 2019 in Andalusia (Spain), where two-year-old Julen died after falling into a well 25 centimeters in diameter and more than 100 meters deep.