World Mourns 5-Year-Old Rayan After Tragic Morocco Well Rescue Attempt

Morocco is in mourning. Accidentally fallen on February 1, 2022 into a 32-meter deep, narrow and difficult to access dried-up well, dug near the family residence in the village of Ighrane, in the province of Chefchaouen, in northern Morocco, little Rayan did not survive, despite the five days of relentless efforts by the rescuers. The tragedy has moved the whole world. Tributes are multiplying after the death of the little boy.

"Following the tragic accident that cost the life of the child Rayan Oram, His Majesty King Mohammed VI called the parents of the deceased, who died after falling into a well," the royal cabinet said in a statement. The sovereign spoke by telephone with the parents of the little boy, Khalid Ouram and Ouassima Kharchich, to whom he conveyed his condolences. "Tonight (Saturday), I want to tell the family of little Rayan and the Moroccan people that we share their grief," wrote Emmanuel Macron, the President of the French Republic on Facebook.

"Thoughts for Rayan, his family and the Moroccan people who mourn him. No one should have to go through this kind of tragedy," reacted Yannick Jadot, the Green candidate for the 2022 presidential election. Anne Hidalgo, PS candidate and mayor of Paris, expressed her "immense sadness", all her "affection" and her "support to the family of little Rayan and to those who have done everything to save him". "Our hearts and the hearts of the whole world are crying. The little boy from the well has united the peoples of the earth... Rayan has passed away after holding the breath of the world for 5 days," wrote Mohamed Abou El Enein, Vice-President of the House of Representatives of Egypt on his official page.

"We had all kept hope that little Rayan would make it. All of this is so tragic," also reacted on Twitter the Moroccan-American novelist Laila Lalami. "Rayan’s courage will remain in our memories and continue to inspire us. The dedication of the Moroccan people and the rescuers as well. Immense thoughts for the parents and loved ones. May Allah grant this warrior the highest degree of paradise," stressed the Algerian international from AC Milan Ismaël Bennacer, in a tweet accompanied by a drawing of a child rising in the sky attached to a heart-shaped balloon in the colors of Morocco.