Rescuers fear for life of Moroccan boy, 5, trapped in well

Attempts to rescue a five-year-old boy trapped in a Moroccan well stretch into a fourth day today, with unstable soil threatening the painstaking work of trying to dig him out safely. Fears grow that it may be too late.

Online messages of support and concern for the boy, Rayan, poured in from around the world as the rescue efforts dragged through the night.

Rescuers used a rope to send oxygen and water down to the boy as well as a camera to monitor him. By Saturday morning, the head of the rescue committee, Abdelhadi Temrani, said: “It is not possible to determine the child’s condition at all at this time. But we hope to God that the child is alive.”

Rayan fell into a 32-meter (105-feet) well located outside his home in the village of Ighran in Morocco’s mountainous northern Chefchaouen province on Tuesday evening. He is now trapped in a hole too narrow for rescuers to reach safely.