Boy Trapped in Morocco Well for Four Days Found Dead by Rescuers

The desperate effort to rescue a 5-year-old Moroccan boy trapped at the bottom of a well for four days ended in tears on Saturday.

A team of rescuers who spent four days removing part of a hillside and digging a horizontal tunnel finally reached Rayan Awram, only to find the child had died.

The country had been transfixed by the life-or-death drama playing out in the city of Ighrane since Tuesday, when Rayan fell into a 105-foot-deep well outside his home. More than 100,000 people watched a livestream of the rescue effort at once, according to The New York Times.

A relative told Reuters TV that they heard him crying and lowered a phone with a light and camera.

“He was crying ‘lift me up,’” the relative said.

His father had been fixing the well when the boy fell in. The family had no idea where he had disappeared to and searched the area over and over, calling neighbors, rescue workers, topographers, and even local recreational mountaineers, relatives told reporters.

Crowds gathered near the well to cheer on emergency relief workers. Rescuers sent down water, oxygen, and a camera, which showed the child alive, though battered and bloody.

Crews worked tirelessly to clear a parallel hole and then drill through to the well—a perilous task that risked a rockslide. They eventually reached Awram at 9:30 p.m. Shortly after, the king of Morocco Mohammed VI called the boy’s parents to offer condolences.