The death of boy Rayan Awram, a 5-year-old child who caused commotion around the world after spending five days trapped in a well in Morocco and failing to be rescued on Saturday (5), sparked a wave of solidarity with demonstrations by figures such as King Mohammed. 6th, the country’s monarch, the president of France, Pope Francis and even football clubs.
The case of “little Rayan”, as the boy is being called, drew worldwide attention when, last Tuesday (1st), he fell into a deactivated well 32 meters deep in the north of the country, which led to a complex operation to get him out, not knowing if he was alive.
After days of work that involved the excavation of a crater parallel to the well, it was up to King Mohammed himself to communicate the tragic end of the story, that the child was removed lifeless from the tunnel. The monarch was among the first to call the boy’s parents and offer condolences, according to the royal office.
The outcome of the operation was eagerly awaited in both the North African kingdom and the rest of the world, with messages of solidarity and encouragement on social media. “I’m completely devastated,” reacted a person following the case on his Twitter account.
But reactions came from all corners of the world after the news of the death. Pope Francis praised the Moroccan people for banding together to try to rescue the boy. “People came together, as a whole, to save Rayan, they worked together to save a child,” he said during his weekly blessing in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. “They tried their best, unfortunately they couldn’t,” he said.
“I want to say to little Rayan’s family and the Moroccan people that we share his pain,” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on Facebook in Arabic.
Football clubs like Liverpool, Manchester United, Barcelona and Sevilla also expressed condolences on their Arab Twitter accounts. “Rayan’s courage will remain in our memories and will continue to inspire us,” wrote on Twitter, Ismael Bennacer, Algerian midfielder for Milan, and published a drawing of a boy lifted to the sky by a balloon.
Rescuers entered the tunnel along with a medical team, not knowing how long they would remain in the narrow shaft. In this last stage, the operations were carried out manually and “with great caution, to avoid vibrations” that could cause a collapse, explained officials in the town of Ighran, near the town of Bab Berred, in the Moroccan province of Chefchaouen.
In the images obtained by an inspection camera, Rayan appeared lying on his back in a corner of the well, without it being possible to tell if he was alive, explained one of those responsible for the rescue operation, Abdelhadi Tamrani.
Teams sent oxygen and water through tubes and bottles down to Rayan, unsure whether the boy would react. At dawn, a huge rock made the work difficult. After three hours of effort, the team managed to overcome it with the help of small electrical equipment to prevent cracking or collapse and crossed through a narrow tunnel.
Thousands of people came to show solidarity and camp there, despite the freezing cold of the mountainous region, at about 700 meters of altitude.
Applause accompanied each appearance by the diggers, such as volunteer Ali Sahraoui, 50, who dug the first few meters by hand and became a social media hero. Police sent in reinforcements to prevent the crowd from interrupting rescue efforts.
Weary rescuers and the hundreds of people who had gathered around the well waiting for good news began to cry when they learned that little Rayan was dead. “I heard people shout with joy after the boy was found, thinking he was alive, but then we found out he wasn’t. I’ve never felt so sad,” said Noureddine, a resident who was there to monitor the operation.
The boy’s parents spoke to state-owned Al Oula after their son’s body was recovered. “This is God’s will. I thank everyone for their efforts to help,” said Rayan’s mother Ouassima Khaarchich.
Source: Folha
