Berliner Boersenzeitung - Morocco in shock after tragic death of 'little Rayan'

EUR -
AED 3.833036
AFN 72.965693
ALL 98.471179
AMD 410.488288
ANG 1.873203
AOA 958.000963
ARS 1062.038807
AUD 1.66843
AWG 1.878434
AZN 1.766427
BAM 1.956221
BBD 2.098651
BDT 124.206714
BGN 1.955593
BHD 0.392184
BIF 3072.96093
BMD 1.043574
BND 1.411604
BOB 7.182545
BRL 6.351196
BSD 1.039424
BTN 88.365005
BWP 14.36609
BYN 3.401532
BYR 20454.059244
BZD 2.089349
CAD 1.499345
CDF 2995.05897
CHF 0.932946
CLF 0.037363
CLP 1030.951736
CNY 7.614337
CNH 7.609349
COP 4549.678541
CRC 524.41279
CUC 1.043574
CUP 27.654723
CVE 110.288721
CZK 25.122494
DJF 185.089809
DKK 7.459825
DOP 63.293613
DZD 140.679257
EGP 53.089735
ERN 15.653617
ETB 129.567767
FJD 2.418014
FKP 0.826492
GBP 0.830541
GEL 2.93199
GGP 0.826492
GHS 15.279286
GIP 0.826492
GMD 75.137432
GNF 8979.931397
GTQ 8.008723
GYD 217.45677
HKD 8.1152
HNL 26.384675
HRK 7.485461
HTG 135.979246
HUF 414.003677
IDR 16875.955523
ILS 3.804173
IMP 0.826492
INR 88.654261
IQD 1361.59285
IRR 43921.44146
ISK 145.182373
JEP 0.826492
JMD 162.624977
JOD 0.739996
JPY 163.239012
KES 134.188861
KGS 90.791231
KHR 4176.898364
KMF 486.43613
KPW 939.216423
KRW 1509.44706
KWD 0.321369
KYD 0.866186
KZT 545.867405
LAK 22749.89303
LBP 93077.018935
LKR 305.165635
LRD 188.650575
LSL 19.135816
LTL 3.081404
LVL 0.631248
LYD 5.107098
MAD 10.46095
MDL 19.145118
MGA 4904.05476
MKD 61.548238
MMK 3389.48911
MNT 3546.065849
MOP 8.32099
MRU 41.336891
MUR 49.25533
MVR 16.074375
MWK 1802.287635
MXN 20.948886
MYR 4.704445
MZN 66.688299
NAD 19.135816
NGN 1617.06
NIO 38.248226
NOK 11.818742
NPR 141.384409
NZD 1.847868
OMR 0.401566
PAB 1.039424
PEN 3.870432
PGK 4.214907
PHP 61.435071
PKR 289.313125
PLN 4.262104
PYG 8104.743162
QAR 3.789115
RON 4.979519
RSD 117.055686
RUB 107.251485
RWF 1448.911631
SAR 3.919987
SBD 8.748864
SCR 14.552642
SDG 627.709679
SEK 11.516721
SGD 1.41425
SHP 0.826492
SLE 23.790453
SLL 21883.237615
SOS 594.027763
SRD 36.661863
STD 21599.884172
SVC 9.094956
SYP 2622.01237
SZL 19.131115
THB 35.711018
TJS 11.370846
TMT 3.662946
TND 3.312012
TOP 2.444153
TRY 36.698543
TTD 7.054517
TWD 34.052871
TZS 2468.53093
UAH 43.591676
UGX 3812.820058
USD 1.043574
UYU 46.359971
UZS 13400.882252
VES 53.718256
VND 26564.187656
VUV 123.895249
WST 2.883175
XAF 656.098113
XAG 0.035368
XAU 0.000398
XCD 2.820312
XDR 0.792871
XOF 656.098113
XPF 119.331742
YER 261.284971
ZAR 19.072706
ZMK 9393.420989
ZMW 28.765187
ZWL 336.030548
  • NGG

    0.8200

    58.5

    +1.4%

  • SCS

    -0.5800

    11.74

    -4.94%

  • CMSC

    0.0200

    23.86

    +0.08%

  • RBGPF

    59.9600

    59.96

    +100%

  • RIO

    -0.0900

    58.64

    -0.15%

  • RELX

    -0.3100

    45.47

    -0.68%

  • BCE

    0.0500

    23.16

    +0.22%

  • CMSD

    0.0000

    23.56

    0%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0100

    7.27

    -0.14%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    8.39

    +0.12%

  • BCC

    -0.2600

    122.75

    -0.21%

  • GSK

    0.1700

    33.6

    +0.51%

  • AZN

    0.9100

    65.35

    +1.39%

  • BTI

    0.1131

    36.24

    +0.31%

  • BP

    0.1900

    28.6

    +0.66%

  • JRI

    0.1100

    12.06

    +0.91%

Morocco in shock after tragic death of 'little Rayan'
Morocco in shock after tragic death of 'little Rayan'

Morocco in shock after tragic death of 'little Rayan'

Morocco was in shock Sunday after emergency crews found a five-year-old boy dead at the bottom of a well in a tragic end to a painstaking five-day rescue operation that gripped the nation and the world.

Text size:

The ordeal of "little Rayan" since he fell down the well on Tuesday afternoon gained global attention and sparked an outpouring of sympathy online, with the Arabic hashtag #SaveRayan trending.

Throughout the operation to extricate him from the bottom of the 32-metre (100-foot) well shaft, authorities had cautioned that they did not know whether he was alive.

And reflecting the emotions provoked by the drama, it was Morocco's royal cabinet that announced he had been found dead.

"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.

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 creating 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.

AFP correspondents saw the boy's parents walk down the slope into the horizontal tunnel, visibly crushed, before returning and boarding an ambulance without saying a word.

After a period of confusion, a crowd of onlookers began dispersing in sombre silence.

The family was yet to announce the date of the funeral, but according to Muslim tradition it must take place soon, in principle as early as Sunday.

- 'So tragic' -

Tributes poured in in the wake of the news that the rescue efforts had failed to recover Rayan alive.

"I want to say to the family of little Rayan and to the Moroccan people that we share your pain," French President Emmanuel Macron said on Facebook.

"Rayan's courage will stay in our memories and continue to inspire us," wrote AC Milan's Algerian midfielder Ismael Bennacer in a tweet accompanied by a drawing of a child being lifted into the sky, carried by a heart-shaped balloon marked with the colours of Morocco.

"We all of us had been holding out hope that little Rayan would make it," Moroccan-American novelist Laila Lalami wrote on Twitter. "This is all so tragic."

- Race against time -

Thousands of people had gathered and even camped in solidarity around the site in recent days, where AFP reporters have said the tension has been palpable.

Some had applauded to encourage the rescuers, sang religious songs or prayed, chanting in unison "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest).

Workers 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.

"I keep up hope that my child will get out of the well alive," Rayan's father had told public television 2M on Friday evening. "I thank everyone involved and those supporting us in Morocco and elsewhere."

He said earlier in the week that he had been repairing the well when the boy fell in.

The operation made the landscape resemble a construction site, and red-helmeted civil defence personnel had at times been suspended by rope, as if on a cliff face.

Overnight they worked non-stop under powerful floodlights that gave a gloomy air to the scene.

hic-fs-ko-agr/fka/alc/roc/oho/leg

(O.Joost--BBZ)