Rescuers open a horizontal tunnel to access the child trapped in a well in Morocco

Rescue teams have already dug a 32-meter tunnel to extricate Rayan, the five-year-old boy who fell into a well that deep last Tuesday. This Friday morning, rescuers were trying to access Rayan through a horizontal tunnel. The whole country was watching for that hole where it fell on Tuesday around two in the afternoon. The place is located in a small village called Igrán (Ighrane, in French), belonging to the commune of Tamorot, in the northern province of Chaouen.

The father of the boy commented on Wednesday to the digital site le360, when the boy had been trapped for 25 hours: “It’s my well, I was repairing it and Rayan was by my side. At one point he fell and I didn’t notice. We alerted the authorities and all the neighbors have come to support us. Everyone has done their best for him to come out alive and for me to be able to hold him in my arms tonight. But I do not hide from you that both his mother and I are devastated and very nervous ”.

This same local media indicated that the rescuers have slid a camera through the hole where Rayan fell and have detected this Friday morning a “small movement” in the place where the child is supposedly. This movement has been interpreted as “a sign of life”.

The spokesman for the Moroccan Executive, Mustafa Baitas, indicated at the press conference on Thursday after the Council of Ministers, that the Government had mobilized “strongly”. He clarified that there would be no problem asking for help, but that the State had the capacity and experience to carry out the rescue operation.

Baitas pointed out the alternatives that had been considered to rescue the child. The first consisted of lengthening the diameter of the well. “But we were afraid that the stones and earth would fall on the child.” Then they also thought of having a lifeguard descend. “There have been attempts, but they have not worked,” he clarified.

Finally, the third technique consisted of digging a well parallel to the 32-meter hole where the boy was. Baitas recalled that the relief teams had worked day and night. And that the great challenge they faced was the very nature of the soil, which made it difficult for machines to intervene. Dozens of operators and five heavy machines have been involved in the rescue operation.

Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits.

subscribe

Follow all the international information in Facebook Y Twitteror in our weekly newsletter.