The Saving of Rayan

[Vixen]

Rescuers are now within 'two metres' (according to Twitter) of reaching the trapped five-year-old boy who fell down a deep well in Morocco. He must have been down there about 90 hours now. He does have an oxygen tube and some nourishment passed down to him. Last I heard was that he is still alive.

Rescuers who are desperately trying to reach a five-year-old boy who fell into a deep well in Morocco are entering the final stages of their operation.

They worked through the night to reach the boy, named by local media as Rayan, who plunged 32m (104ft) through the well's narrow opening four days ago.

The complex operation has gripped the North African country for days, and thousands have gathered at the scene.

Fears of a landslide have made the rescue operation more dangerous.

That risk combined with the mixture of rocky and sandy soils has meant rescuers deem opening the water well's narrow shaft to be too dangerous.

Instead, bulldozers have been used to cut a huge trench next to the well and authorities say they are "almost there".

BBC News

Because of the dangers of the soil caving in, they have had to dig another well alongside and then try to reach the boy horizontally. A few hours ago they managed to insert a concrete tube (rather like a sewage pipe), which will obviate the real danger of the roof caving in.

Just two metres to go!

There is a live channel broadcast on twitter.

Even the rescue helicopter and medics have had to land ten kilometers away because of the high risk.

 

[Vixen]

From Cerfia (Conflits France) Twitter:

FLASH | More than 1.68 meters to reach the small #Rayan . The operation was temporarily #suspendue . The #secouristes come up against a layer of rock which slows their progress.

https://twitter.com/CerfiaFR/status/1489870705684484100?s=20&t=Z9fLD818bJPMsLMJUIVcEA

Rock problem. The darkest hour is just before dawn.

It took about eight hours to cut through four metres, so possibly another four or five hours before they reach him. He is moving, apparently.

 

[Vixen]

Not looking good. Looking at the diagram and reports of a small landslide, it all seems impossible to me.

However, where there is a will there is a way. BBC is reporting they are not sure he is alive or conscious as there has been no recent movement.

On the plus side, children can be amazingly resilient. Hopefully, he has just fallen asleep.

Drilling of a horizontal gap between the well where Rayan is located and the parallel trench created by the heavy machinery is underway.
Very delicate operation given the risk of collapse that would compromise the life of the equipment and further delay the rescue

twitter

Rescue workers have been amazing. Indefatigable. The sheer amount of work and effort that has gone into this.

 

[Vixen]

Rayan has emerged from the cave after a nightmare four long days on his own in a tiny space, on a stretcher, of course, and flanked by a line of security guards, rescuers and medics.

The parents were awaiting him in the ambulance which will transfer the little boy to a helicopter.

No word on Rayan's condition but he is probably badly injured.

The rescue teams have done an amazing - near superhuman - job working all around the clock to get him out. Well done!

 

[Lplus]

Rayan has emerged from the cave after a nightmare four long days on his own in a tiny space, on a stretcher, of course, and flanked by a line of security guards, rescuers and medics.

The parents were awaiting him in the ambulance which will transfer the little boy to a helicopter.

No word on Rayan's condition but he is probably badly injured.

The rescue teams have done an amazing - near superhuman - job working all around the clock to get him out. Well done!

Well done indeed- I just hope their effort was not in vain.

 

[Checkmite]

These kinds of rescues so often do not go well. I'm glad that wasn't the case this time.

 

[Vixen]

Sad to confirm that Rayan has died. Apparently, shortly after reaching the ambulance.

 

[William Parcher]

Oh well.

 

[Dr.Sid]

Oh well.

Dude ..

 

[shemp]

Oh well.

Yeah, better luck next time.

 

[Checkmite]

Sad to confirm that Rayan has died. Apparently, shortly after reaching the ambulance.

Well, that bites. I thought it had been a happy ending, but unfortunately not.

 

[Matthew Ellard]

I simply found it interesting that people falling down wells and caves must be moderately common, as it appears to be a movie genre.

"The Well" 1951
The plot centers around the disappearance of Carolyn, a five-year-old black girl who falls into an abandoned, overgrown well while picking flowers on her way to school one morning.

Ace in the Hole 1951
A frustrated former big-city journalist now stuck working for an Albuquerque newspaper exploits a story about a man trapped in a cave to rekindle his career, but the situation quickly escalates into an out-of-control circus.

Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure (1989)
Based on the true story of Jessica McClure, the child who fell into an abandoned water well while playing in her aunt's backyard in Midland, Texas. She was stuck in the well 22 feet down and it took rescuers 58 hours to get her out.

 

[shemp]

I simply found it interesting that people falling down wells and caves must be moderately common, as it appears to be a movie genre.

"The Well" 1951
The plot centers around the disappearance of Carolyn, a five-year-old black girl who falls into an abandoned, overgrown well while picking flowers on her way to school one morning.

Ace in the Hole 1951
A frustrated former big-city journalist now stuck working for an Albuquerque newspaper exploits a story about a man trapped in a cave to rekindle his career, but the situation quickly escalates into an out-of-control circus.

Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure (1989)
Based on the true story of Jessica McClure, the child who fell into an abandoned water well while playing in her aunt's backyard in Midland, Texas. She was stuck in the well 22 feet down and it took rescuers 58 hours to get her out.

And many episodes of Lassie!

 

[W.D.Clinger]

Ace in the Hole 1951
A frustrated former big-city journalist now stuck working for an Albuquerque newspaper exploits a story about a man trapped in a cave to rekindle his career, but the situation quickly escalates into an out-of-control circus.

According to IMDB, California's Supreme Court ruled this movie was (loosely) based on events surrounding the 1925 death of Floyd Collins in Sand Cave.

The media circus surrounding that tragedy contributed to depictions of fictional events in television, movies, and print.

Collins explored and commercialized Great Crystal Cave, now known as Floyd Collins's Crystal Cave. At one time, explorers mapping Floyd's Crystal Cave proved it to be one of the longest caves in the world. In 1972, they found a passage that connects Crystal Cave to Mammoth Cave, so Floyd's Crystal Cave is now a part of the world's longest known cave system.

 

[Matthew Ellard]

And many episodes of Lassie!

Yep. I found the TV trope page, that made fun of Lassie continuously going "woof, woof, woof" to warn adults that yet another child had fallen down a well.

Feel sorry for me. I'm an Australian and thus we had "Skippy the bush kangaroo" warning adults of young Australians falling into caves, down wells and so on.

Feel very sorry for New Zealand which would probably have a flightless and silent kiwi bird, trying to inform adult New Zealanders that yet another New Zealand child had fallen down a well, into a cave and so on.