IGHRANRE - Moroccan emergency crews found a five-year-old boy dead at the bottom of a well late Saturday in a tragic end to a painstaking five-day rescue operation that gripped the nation and beyond.
"Following the tragic accident which cost the life of the child Rayan Oram, His Majesty King Mohammed VI called the parents of the boy who died after falling down the well," a statement from the royal court said.
Through the days-long operation to extricate little Rayan from the bottom of the 32-metre (100 foot) well shaft, authorities had cautioned that they did not know whether the child was dead or alive.
But news of his death sent a chill through the cold mountain air of his home village of Ighrane in the Rif mountains of northern Morocco where thousands of volunteers and well-wishers had gathered this week in a show of solidarity with his family.
It was well after dark when rescue teams finally broke through to the well shaft where the boy was trapped, from the deep cut in the mountainside they had excavated in recent days.
AFP correspondents saw the boy's parents walk down the slope into the cut, visibly crushed, before returning and boarding an ambulance without saying a word.
After a period of confusion, the crowd of onlookers began dispersing in sombre silence.
There was no official word on the boy's condition until Moroccan media carried the palace statement.
The boy's ordeal since he fell down the well on Tuesday afternoon had gripped residents of the North African kingdom and beyond, also sparking sympathy in neighbouring Algeria, a regional rival.
By mid-afternoon Saturday, rescue crews, using bulldozers and front-end loaders, had excavated the surrounding red earth down to the level where the boy was trapped, and drill teams began work on excavating a horizontal tunnel to reach him from the side.
But progress slowed to a snail's pace as the drill teams worked by hand to avoid any vibrations that might bring the brittle soil down on the stricken child, local authorities said.
The more time passed, the more fears mounted over Rayan's condition.
Rescuers did not give up hope of recovering the child alive, although officials acknowledged they had no firm evidence of his condition.
Onlookers applauded to encourage the rescuers, sang religious songs or prayed, chanting in unison "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest).
Rescuers had tried to get oxygen and water down to the child but it was not clear whether he was able to use them, AFP correspondents reported. - AFP.