Moroccans anxiously awaited news on Thursday of a five-year-old boy, Rayan, who has been trapped in a well in Shafshawan city for more than 46 hours, with pleas mounting on social media for authorities to hasten his rescue.
The boy's parents found him hours after he fell into the abandoned well near their family home, officials said. The longer Rayan has been trapped, the more attention the case has gathered on social media.
The hashtag "Save Rayan" in Arabic and in English was tweeted more than 2,000 times from Morocco, neighbouring Algeria and other parts of the Arab world.
“We haven’t slept, we haven’t eaten,” the boy's mother told the local Anbae TV channel.
“We know everybody is supporting us.”
The well, which was 60 metres deep when it was first dug, has become more shallow over time and is now about 30m deep, an official from the rescue team said.
”As it becomes deeper, the well also gets narrower. We have dug through 22 metres and the coming hours are crucial. We believe that the width of the well where Rayan is, is 36 centimetres,” the official said.
”Several people have attempted to go down the well but failed,” he said.
A helicopter is on standby to transport Rayan to a nearby medical facility if required, the official said. An ambulance and a medical team are also on site.
Earth-moving machinery was seen moving piles of sand from around the well.
Local news outlet ChoufTV said King Mohamed VI had sent a representative to monitor the operation.
“There is hope that Rayan is alive,” the official from the rescue team said.
People offered prayers on social media for Rayan’s rescue and well-being.
“I am sincerely praying for him to stay strong and be saved soon,” Youssef Moussaif, a computer science student, wrote on Twitter. Social media users called for international experts to join the rescue mission.
