{"id":162594,"date":"2022-02-04T15:42:39","date_gmt":"2022-02-04T07:42:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=162594"},"modified":"2022-02-04T15:42:39","modified_gmt":"2022-02-04T07:42:39","slug":"morocco-rescue-efforts-to-save-a-five-year-old-boy-who-fell-into-a-narrow-32m-well-grips-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=162594","title":{"rendered":"Morocco: Rescue efforts to save a five-year-old boy who fell into a narrow 32m well grips nation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Provincial authorities brought in heavy machinery in an attempt to rescue the child<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0RABAT, Feb 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — <\/strong>Efforts to save a child in Morocco who fell into a water well near the city of Chefchaouen is nearing its end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The child, who local media have identified as a five-year-old boy named Rayan, was reportedly playing near the well in the northern town of Tamrout, 100km from Chefchaouen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rayan is believed to have fallen about 32m through a narrow opening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rescue operations, led by Morocco’s Civil Protection Directorate, have been ongoing since Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The child’s rescue is approaching,” government spokesman Mustapha Baitas said on Thursday evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our hearts are with the family, and we are praying that he will back with them as soon as possible.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite suffering a significant fall, footage from a camera lowered into the well showed that the boy remains alive and conscious, though he appeared to be suffering from some minor head injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rescue workers have lowered an oxygen mask, food and water into the well and a medical team is also on site, ready to treat the boy. A helicopter has also arrived at the scene to bring him to hospital once he has been extracted from the well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thousands of people have been watching footage of the rescue on social media, and a large group of onlookers have gathered at the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local media reported that provincial authorities are overseeing rescue attempts and that dozens of police, auxiliary forces, Royal Gendarmerie and civil protection officers are now involved in the operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pictures from the scene show five bulldozers digging a large area parallel to the well’s outer shaft to try and work around the narrow structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Thursday evening, rescuers reported they had dug down some 24 metres, but that around six metres still remained to reach the child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But authorities remain concerned that any interference with the well could accidentally hurt the five-year-old by triggering a landslide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arabic hashtag #SaveRayan has been trending across the region, including in neighbouring Algeria. — NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Provincial authorities brought in heavy machinery in an attempt to rescue the child \u00a0RABAT, Feb 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Efforts to save a child in Morocco who fell into a water well near the city of Chefchaouen is nearing its end. The child, who local media have identified as a five-year-old boy named Rayan, was reportedly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":162597,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162594"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=162594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/162597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=162594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=162594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=162594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}